Project Mobitropolis Act One: Evil Rises
by Shax Davis
Summary: On the world of Mobius, a blue hedgehog with a fragmented past is thrust suddenly and unexpectedly into a quest to save an ancient and mighty kingdom from a machievellian coup. Along the way he pieces together his past and learns the value of life.
1. Genocide City

Sonic & Knuckles Episode 1 

PROJECT MOBITROPOLIS:  
An Adventure in Two Acts

S Peter Davis

All characters (C) SEGA, Archie and SP Davis 2004.  
Used without permission

* * *

Foreword 

Sonic fans, especially the oldschool variety, will probably recognise the Archie/SatAM Sonic universe buried in this tale, but notice that it does not fit with the canon version from the cartoon or comics, and in fact there's really nothing canon about it at all. Don't try to connect this with any official material, for it exists within a parallel universe and is entirely my creation. The reason being that I had written later events originally within the canon continuum but found it irresistable to pour in a copious amount of creative licence and convert it into something barely recognisable. Thus an original universe requires an original foundation, and that's what this is. This is how it all began, according exclusively to me.

I should say a word about the character of Packbell. As far as I can tell, the character was originally penned by an author named David Pistone, who may or may not still write under his own or another name. I have never read any of David's stories. I stole Packbell from NetRaptor a long time ago who in turn, I should say 'borrowed', him from somewhere else a long time prior to that. As a result, a Chinese whispers effect has converted the character into something probably unrecognisable to the original vision. I've given Packbell a first name in this story to suit my purposes. At this point it's best that you consider it a wholly original character who happens to share the name "Packbell". It's a really great character name. I can only attempt to credit the original author as best I can and invite him to contact me if there is a problem with me using this bastardization of his character, but there are more popular authors than I who have been doing it for longer, which suggests to me that nobody really minds.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

SP Davis

* * *

Prologue: The Very Heart of Origin

The world is not enough,  
But it is such a perfect place to start.  
And if you're strong enough,  
Together, we can take the world apart.  
- Garbage

Mobitropolis is where it all began, the entire great mess. It is difficult to believe that such a place could give rise to such events - such a clean, uncorruptable marvel of the modern world. But rise they did, and I will tell you how.

The council sat in an organized fashion before the king, as it always did. Those with a Minister's portfolio sat at the front bench, with the entire array of political councillers seated in back, all two hundred of them. But the King sat in front and faced his government, and they faced him with their modest attire, so it was and so it always had been. Beside the King, his hair to the throne - Prince Martin - and his only daughter - Princess Sally. Nine and eight years old respectively.  
"Your Majesty," the chairman said, "The council will now hear from the Minister of Science. Professor Ivo Robotnik"  
The King nodded his approval. The Minister of Science stood and moved to the speaking position beside His Majesty. The politicians ceased their hushed whispers to pay attention.  
Ivo Robotnik, crisp and sharp in a freshly steamed full business suit, was twenty-five. One of the youngest politicians in the room, and the youngest to ever take a front bench position. On the bench were six foxes, two squirrels, a raccoon, and Robotnik. What was he? Was anybody to question it? He was, as far as anybody ever wondered, simply Robotnik. His features were ape-like, yet devoid of the thick, black body hair apes possess. His skin was entirely visible, save for the roughness on his face. Although he shaved smooth every morning, within a few hours the thick red bristles already began to emerge from his pores. Despite the extremely rapid facial growth, his hairline was receding abnormally soon in his life. His devil-red hair would very soon fall from his scalp, leaving it as bald as the surface of an egg.  
Robotnik. While not hideous in a malformed kind of way, he was nevertheless cursed with an extremely unattractive face. His head was small and round, almost spherical, and his ears panned outwards. His features were too small in the centre of his face, his eyes in craters, his nose too large. He wore circular spectacles, mostly for reading, but with increasing frequency that showed he was beginning to develop a sight problem. But his unattractiveness was perhaps the devil's bargain for his other attributes. Robotnik had an intelligence far beyond his years. It was an intimidating kind of intelligence, one that looked down on you and knew its own superiority. He had completed a PhD before his peers had completed high school. It was a relatively simple task to enter into politics with such a decorated career, despite the mystery which almost completely shrouded his past.  
"Dr Robotnik," King Acorn said with a smile on his aged face. Few things could bring humour to His Majesty, and Robotnik was one of them. There was safety in Robotnik - trust, honour and dignity. Something that was missing from the easily corruptable democratic panel before him. "It is good to see you, my friend. I trust you bring news from afar"  
"Indeed I do," Robotnik replied, and stood beside his King to address the government. "As you know," he announced, "I have spent the past months delegating to other kingdoms across the continent, as a diplomat for His Majesty the King of the House of Acorn. Unfortunately, my friends, I bring dire news. I have seen it with my own eyes. The Arack Empire is expanding"  
The room burst into sound. Politicians began to talk amongst themselves, in worried tones of voice. The chairman hushed them, as Robotnik continued.  
"As you all know, Arack has threatened our borders before. Even now, they continue to expand the Webb to the east, three new cities have emerged since last we travelled to their lands. The next time they threaten us, it is concievable that we will be unable to defend ourselves from them. Their speed is nothing short of remarkable"  
"What plans have the other kingdoms formed to prevent attack?" King Acorn asked.  
Robotnik looked over the parliament. His glance lingered on one politician, a member by the name of Packbell. Then he looked to the front bench, where the ministers were watching him intently.  
"In dealing with this threat, many of our allies are considering the use of satellite technology"  
The parliament burst into chatter again. One politician, a weasil, stood and addressed Robotnik directly in a loud voice.  
"You want to put something into space? In orbit around us? This is starting our folly all over again"  
Robotnik shook his head slowly. "In fact, I do not feel that a defense satellite will be enough to protect us. I feel that, in order to truly display our might and intimidate hostile forces, we need to construct a full space defense colony. A space station"  
Outrage in the parliament. "You're mad"  
Robotnik tried to shout over the raised voices, and the room calmed as he spoke. "There are three individual aspects to our lifestyle that we must protect with the utmost vigilance. Number one - Acorn. We must sustain the government, the guard, and His Majesty the King and the First Family. Number two - Residents. Me must protect the people from any outside threat, keep a cop on every street and the trains running on time. Keep terrorists and invading forces out of our land. And number three - Kingdom. We have to protect our way of life, the constitution we all live by, and the rights we all deserve. With our current military force, we struggle to do this, and how would we fare if the Arack Empire marched into our land? I have the schematics for a station that can uphold the stability of each of these institutions - Acorn, Residents, Kingdom - by monitoring every activity that goes on inside and around our lands, a simultanious surveillance and tactics development stronghold. If we built it on Mobius it would be the first thing our enemies take out. But in space, who can touch it? The A-R-K is a reality. I have worked out every detail. I call it Project Mobitropolis. It will take ten years to complete, but after that time, our safety is assured. Now, it is true that it will cost considerably, but we can budget it." He cleared his throat. "We can develop robot workers to wipe out labour costs"  
Now, there was complete anarchy in the parliament. Councillers stood and shouted incomprehensibly at Robotnik. They spoke to each other with shock and awe. Only Robotnik himself appeared calm, he seemed almost certain that his ideals would be upheld, one way or another. Beside the King, Princess Sally shifted uncomfortably and looked up at her father, who was paying careful attention to Robotnik.  
"Professor," shouted an outspoken counciller from one of the front benches, "You realise what you are saying, surely! Now, perhaps you are too young to remember the Android Wars, Professor, but I am not. That was a horror that nobody on this planet wishes to repeat! Robots fighting robots, by the end of it there was no mobian involvement in the conflict, except the movement to shut it down before they destroyed the planet! And that is why there is an international agreement, Professor, never to research or manufacture in the field of robotics. Even the automobile fringes on illegal technology. Any machine we build, must be completely and entirely driven by a mobian. There will certainly be no Project Mobitropolis, no ARK, and no robot military in charge of it"  
"Hear hear!" somebody shouted.  
"I am aware of the restrictions on artificial intelligence," Robotnik replied, "But I am also aware of the protocol to bypass it. The international agreement was made with the unanimous decision that robotics may be produced if it is strictly in the interest of self defense. Has the Arack Empire not threatened us with force if we do not appease their one-sided material interests? This is a cold war, and we must do everything in our power to make sure the enemies of freedom do not prevail"  
"I must concur with the Professor," spoke a voice from the depths of the parliament, and heads swivelled to see who might be so mad as to support this notion.  
It was Andreas Packbell. The counciller's species was the same as that of Robotnik, although nobody ever questioned this species just as nobody questioned that a sphere was round. Some things in this world just were as they were. Packbell had a full head of hair, all of it grey. His face was pocked with wrinkles and dimples, not signs of significant age, but age enough to tell he had been around for quite a while. His past was even more shrouded than that of Robotnik, yet he was greatly admired. People suspected and feared Robotnik, but Packbell was different. He was one of the boys. He was no genius, but his wisdom was quite remarkable.  
"You agree with this madness?" the outspoken counciller demanded.  
"Indeed I do," Packbell replied, "And it is not madness, Mr Counciller, but mere common sense. The ban on technology implimented after the Android Wars is nothing but paranoid overregulation, restricting us from developing technology on par with Arack and any other rogue state. They already have machines, and great ones. The reality of the situation is that the deregulation of robotics is the only way we can protect our way of life. We learn from mistakes, there will be no repeat of the great wars. The Android Wars occurred because we developed robots too quickly, it will not repeat as long as we take great care in our planning"  
There was chattering in the hall, now. Robotnik's ideas could be seen as outrageous, but Packbell? His support turned the tide of opinion, and now many didn't know what to think.  
From his position near the King, Robotnik looked out into the crowd and glanced directly at Packbell. Packbell glanced back, sustaining eye contact for only a moment, and then the glances parted.

Robotnik lingered in the wings after the parliament was dismissed. Alone, he sat in his place on the front bench.  
A plaque was positioned in front of him, a little metal thing with golden letters. "Minister of Science," it read, "Prof. Ivo Robotnik". He smirked a little as he looked at it. It was true, he was a professor. Skipped four years of school, replaced them at Mobitropolis University and achieved a PhD in physics, physical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and chemistry. With honours. Despite his ego, he chose not to use his title, most of the time. Casually, he was merely referred to as Dr Robotnik.  
His skill above his peers was strengthened by the fact that he was fantastic with his hands, as well as with his mind. His fingers were thin and nimble, there was no tremble in his hands whatsoever, and his patience was remarkable. Despite this, his name was coincidental, nothing to do with his skills. His adoptive parents were chimps, they had carried the name Robotnik for generations. In old Mobian, it meant 'independent spirit.  
He touched his plaque with those tremble-free hands now, ran his finger across the smoothness of it. Dr Robotnik, Mobitropolis' young Minister of Science. He reached up and scratched his cheek - it was rough, where it had been smooth mere hours ago. One day, he thought, he would just let it grow. If he was losing hair on top, he shouldn't discourage the rest of it.  
Somebody else entered the hall, now. Robotnik was not surprised, as he was expecting it. Andreas Packbell sat next to him, in the Defense Minister's place, and said not a word.  
"They certainly don't like the idea," Robotnik said, "They're stuck on the idea of a perfect world without technology. Pathetic, isn't it"  
"Quite so," Packbell replied, "But that's why you have me here"  
"Indeed. But everything would fall into ruin if they knew what you really were. Everything we've built up to these past few years, we would be a travesty. We're entering a crucial period now, Packbell. We have to take meticulous care, every step of the way. I almost have you elected Defense Minister"  
"Things will run smoothly," Packbell assured him, "As long as our tracks are covered. How is your research coming along"  
Robotnik smiled. "Better than I expected. His speed is magnificent, and I have mapped his muscle structure. I can almost begin to create the replica design"  
"You know," Packbell said, "That you have to destroy him"  
"Naturally," Robotnik sighed, "But it is almost a shame. He is such a magnificent creation. So rebellious, though, such a strong spirit. You cannot control a spirit as you can a machine. It is a pity"  
"I wouldn't know," Packbell said, and looked down at the bench.  
These two political figures, embodied opinions in a growing democratic movement, were the only individuals on the planet who could have predicted the storm that was coming.  
The story, the real story, doesn't begin until ten years later.

* * *

Act One - Evil Rises

GENOCIDE CITY

He opened his eyes. The morning light was shining onto them, but that wasn't the reason he awoke. He could stand the light, after all this time he was used to it. But he wasn't used to the rustling and clanging of somebody going through his personal belongings.  
He lifted his head and saw an intruder in his home. In the heart of the city, things like this happened all the time. He found it remarkable and irritating that the intruders apparently don't even realise they're trespassing. He grunted, but the intruder apparently didn't hear him. Couldn't they see they were invading his property? Eventually he became alert enough to speak.  
"Hey kid... get out of it"  
The intruder looked up. His hands were full of garbage. They stared at each other for a short while, the intruder apparently quite startled. He looked up and down the walls of the dumpster and came to a realisation. The intruder climbed out quickly, and fled down the street.  
Irritated at the premature awakening, the hedgehog clambered into a sitting position and stared at the urban landscape visible from his makeshift home, a green dumpster with chipped paint and rusted edges. His choice of decor was appalling, and the lighting was dismal, but the furnishings were quite comfortable most of the time, unless some jerk decided to throw out a broken bottle.  
The hedgehog saw his intruder as he hurried away, and was startled, himself. It definitely was just a kid, a young fox with matted orange fur, and from his rear-end view the hedgehog could quite clearly see two tails attached to the kid's backside. Unless he was seeing double in his weariness.  
"Hey Blue!" somebody shouted, and the hedgehog turned at the sound of his name.  
"Rat," he replied, "What's up, man"  
Rat was grinning like a rat, and both the name and the grin were quite fitting, because he was indeed a rat. His thin pink tail swished around lazily as he leaned on Blue's dumpster.  
"Glad you're awake," he said, "There's something big goin' on downtown, every man, woman and wallet in the city has gotta be down there. Outside that big satellite facility thingamajig. It might just be the best crowd I've ever worked. We might just be able to afford fish this week"  
Blue grunted and, with an exaggerated effort, climbed out of the bin. "What's going on"  
"Beats me," Rat replied, "Doesn't really matter. They're preoccupied with something, that's the main thing. We're meeting the boys down there, outside the parliament building. I wanna get a good chip in before Nails' boys get down there. C'mon"  
The sun was shining brightly on the planet Mobius that day. The sky was cloudless, and the wind wasn't strong enough to roll the cigarette butts along the pavement (which was Blue's highly accurate method of measuring the wind). The weather was, for all intensive purposes, perfect. All this was vital in deciding how to go about working a crowd. His friends looked up to his abilities, even relied on them, because a wrong move could spell the end. Blue never moved wrong, at least not any more.  
Bosley, an elderly walrus, and Powder, an albino hawk, waited for the two of them outside the Mobitropolis Parliament House. The Palace of Acorn was visible nearby, and Blue always looked upon it as a beautiful building. He wondered what fabulous activity went on inside, where the Royal Family lived. Surely nothing they would want a blue-spined hedgehog from the city street knowing about.  
There was indeed a crowd that day, and although Rat often exaggerated, he didn't this time. The crowd was tightly packed in an open area, people climbing on each other to get a view of what was happening ahead. They were standing outside a huge facility, bordered with a wire fence. The top of the fence, about forty feet upward, was barbed. Of course, Blue knew it well just as he knew the entire city, but he wasn't sure what went on inside. Something scientific and classified. There was a huge sign near an always-locked gate, which read 'Project Mobitropolis: Research and Launch Facility. Authorised personnel only. Clearance required'  
It didn't look quite so imposing right now, however. There was a celebration of some kind going on. Vendors were selling balloons and hotdogs. The usually vicious and morbid chain-link barbed fence was tamed by streamers and colourful decorations.  
There was music playing, and some very important-looking people milling around behind makeshift barriers. Blue recognised one of them as Dr Robotnik, the Minister of Science. There were other familiar faces, politicians and scientists.  
The attraction was quite obvious, for it dominated the scene. Something was erected inside the facility, a massive construction that looked like it may touch the sky. Blue knew enough about things to know it was a space shuttle. He had heard stories about shuttle launches in his youth, but had never actually seen one.  
"We going in?" Powder asked, "I want to get this over with while they're all standing and looking"  
"Right," said Rat, "Let's do it"  
They moved in to mingle with the crowd. Blue stayed behind a while, his head pointed to the heavens to try and see the top of the shuttle. One of his friends called out his name, and he moved in.  
A hedgehog with blue spines tended to yield a lot of strange looks, which worked against him in these situations. But he managed to get by quite well with his other natural skills. He moved up to stand next to a tall fox in a leather overcoat. "Nice day for it," he commented.  
"Yes, very nice," the fox replied. Blue moved away casually. Nobody had noticed that, not only had he swiped the fox's wallet, but also the wallet of the gecko who had been standing on the other side of him.  
Blue was quick. He was like the wind. This was not a skill he picked up, rather one he had learned to use, for as far as he knew he had always possessed it. Not only was he quick with his hands, but much more than that, he was quick on his feet. He could run faster than most people could imagine. Blue lightning, they called it. Needless to say, there wasn't a lot of room for running in the city, unless one was caught doing something one wasn't supposed to be doing.  
As Blue worked the crowd, Bosley, the lookout, approached him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Look out kid," he said, "SWAT-bots on your left"  
Blue ceased his activities immediately and pretended to have a good time, while slyly he watched a patrol of seven SWATs make its way past the crowd. The people still froze up and looked a little uneasy whenever the robots came near them, but by-and-large, they were beginning to get used to them. It had only been three years prior that the Mobitropolis police force had been replaced by the black-armoured SWAT-bots. The Special Weapons And Tactics Robots, as would be expected, did not fear being punched, kicked, shot or stabbed. As such, they were many times more efficient, and, unlike living police, they were not in any way violent. The only exception was if the assailant was threatening a live victim, in which case the SWATs were programmed to use lethal force. In the vast majority of cases, if a SWAT-bot saw you committing an arrestable offense, you went to directly to prison, immediately and promptly. The secret to crime in Mobitropolis was simply not to be seen.  
By the time the SWATs had passed, the mood of the crowd had changed, which meant that Blue's tactics would have to change. Everybody was suddenly focused on the shuttle - prime working conditions. With the right method, Blue could have taken up to twenty wallets in a minute. He called it freeze time, the condition where everybody was focused on anything other than their pockets, and time appeared to freeze for everyone but the pickpocket. But Blue himself, on this day, fell into a trap he had never before fallen into. He allowed his own attention to wander.  
There was a giant black screen with red digital numbers displayed on it, and they had begun to count down from ten. Everybody in the crowd was counting aloud. Blue lost track of what he was doing, and watched the shuttle, his mouth open in wonder. It was like a giant aeroplane, aimed into the heavens. Smoke was pouring from the rockets, he could smell it saturating the air. People in the crowd began coughing as they counted.  
The countdown reached zero, and the shuttle launched. The people cheered. Blue watched it, his spines blowing back in the now powerful wind. He watched it climb into the blue sky and vanish as if it had teleported away, nothing remaining but a trail of puffy cloudlike smoke.

"That was brilliant!" Rat exclaimed. There was much hooting and hollering in the alleyway after the launch, and at least twenty homeless mobians had gathered together to divide the spoils. Rat was laughing hardest of all, as he dumped a handful of cash onto an overturned barrel. He turned and tossed a bunch of wallets into a dumpster. "Fantastic freeze time! They were like stunned cattle! Man, I bet Blue cleaned up, right mate"  
Blue cocked a smile and put a handful of cash down, not a much larger pile than Rat's.  
"Whoa," Rat said, "What happened to you? Something's not right. You aren't hiding any for yourself, are ya? Gimme a look at those wallets"  
"I don't have them," Blue replied, his voice low and embarrassed, "I returned them, after I took the cash out"  
"Pfft, why bother?" Rat counted the money, carefully, twice. "Well, the good news is we're all eating well this week, folks"  
There was a cheer in the alley, not an overly excited one, but more one of relief. Rat began to divide the money and sort out everybody's share. He happened to look at Blue, who was reclining on a wall, looking disinterested. "What's wrong, Blue? Ya not feeling well"  
"I dunno," Blue replied, "I just, I-" he sighed, "I don't feel right. I don't want to keep doing this. Stealing money, I mean. I don't like it, I feel dirty"  
A few heads turned. Rat let out a forced laugh. "Hey, it's only charity! They earn enough money to support themselves, and the rest goes to support us! Everybody eats, it's a perfect world"  
"It's not a perfect world, though, Rat," Blue replied, "There has to be a better way to live than this. We're not a part of this city, we're just leeching off it"  
Rat's smile faded. "Hey, look kid. I didn't choose this life. I was forced into it, just like you were. Forced, because these people around us would make it hell for us if we tried to blend back in. Admit it, if you had a choice between this life and your old one, you'd choose this in a heartbeat"  
"I don't know," came the reply, and then a silence.  
"Oh, not this again," Rat said, "The old repressed memories story. You know I've known you for a year now, we've been through all this crud together, and you still refuse to tell me, any of us, your real name"  
"I don't know my name," Blue protested, "I don't think I have a name"  
"You have a name, you're just too much of a hypocrite to admit you're one of us," Rat said, and turned his back on the hedgehog. Blue sighed, and turned his attention back to the sky.  
"Where do you suppose they're going?" he asked.  
Rat turned back, "Huh"  
"That shuttle they launched. Where are they supposed to be going"  
"ARK," replied Bosley, the old walrus, in a very knowing tone.  
Blue appeared confused for a moment. "There's a boat up there"  
"Not a boat, a station," Bosley laughed, "A space station, a colony. Don't you read any science fiction"  
"Oddly enough, no," the hedgehog replied, "I only read what people throw away"  
"You know," Bosley said, "There never used to be all this technology around"  
"Here we go, 'back in my day'..." Rat interrupted.  
"Well it's true! It wasn't just back in my day, either, it was back as far as ten years ago. I was born just after the Android Wars, but they say the robots could have destroyed everything if we didn't stop them in time. Everybody on Mobius made a pact not to develop any more technology. That lasted a while, and then suddenly it all started up again. All these space colonies and robot cops and whatnot. Everyone's forgotten the Android Wars, of course, and they're back to talking about how robotics is the future and we have to finish building the ARK for the good of Mobitropolis. It's that Robotnik who's putting ideas into people's heads"  
"Ivo Robotnik?" Blue asked, "The science guy"  
"Man alive, I'd love to get into his wallet," Rat commented.  
"Yeah," said Bosley, "Him. The whole ARK idea is his, he has some great big idea about protecting the kingdom from some outside threat. He was the one who started building robots again"  
"How do you know so much about this junk?" Rat asked.  
"I pay attention, sonny. Now, give me some of that cash so I can get myself a hotdog."

Crown Prince Martin Acorn was nineteen. He was a tall, handsome squirrel, the next in line for the throne after his ancient father of eighty. The paparazzi hounded him constantly for photographs, and he pretended to hate it. The media followed him to every important event, and he pretended to hate that too. One of the most popular icons in all of Mobitropolis and the kingdoms around it, and his insistance that he was as humble as any man fooled most and the rest didn't matter. He was a sparkling, eppervescent, and worthy successor to the throne, the one who would bring the crumbling and forgotten monarchy back to the glory it once was. And he liked it.  
"Prince Martin," a reporter, scrambling for his attention, said into her microphone before holding it to his mouth, "Lexington Grammar, Mobitropolis Radio One. What are your thoughts on the launch"  
"Well," he replied, "It was quite a show, wasn't it"  
"Do you think Project Mobitropolis will offer the citizens the safety and freedom that has been promised to them"  
"Project Mobitropolis is a very exciting time for the kingdom of Acorn. When it goes online later this week, the enemies of freedom and peace will never again threaten anybody under the protection of the Crown. A very exciting time, a time for rejoicing. It promises many, many years of peace and prosperity"  
An unrecognised voice shouted over the flurry of reporters, "Crown Prince, what is your stance on the research of nanotechnology"  
The prince was struck silent. His face seemed to go a little pale, but he regained his composure quickly. "I'm afraid I really cannot answer any more questions at this time, there is much to do"  
He turned and headed inside the palace. The reporters followed close behind, but were stopped by guards. Prince Martin walked along a straight path towards the main doors of the Palace of Acorn, the sounds of shouting media, desperate for his attention, fading behind him.  
The Acorn Dynasty of the Northern Kingdom of Mobius could be traced along thirteen hundred years. In the old days of the kingdom, the monarchy was everything. Now, the government had grown powerful, the change in beliefs and technology had created a democratic system of control under the King. Now, the Royal Family were little more than figureheads for media attention and novelty. Of course, according to the very constitution of the kingdom, the King retained absolute power over everything within his lands, but most of the time he opted not to use it. It was, he believed, in the interests of his subjects, that he allow democratic process to take place. Thus, under Martin's father, King Charles Acorn III, the monarchy itself had begun to erode.  
Prince Martin's heels clicked on the polished floors of the palace as he proceeded down the hall. Guard robots lined the walls, silent and inanimate like toy soldiers. Martin tried not to look at them. Every so often, somebody living crossed his path. He nodded to each of them, a slave to tradition.  
There was quite a lot of walking to be done, but he didn't mind. He loved to walk, it cleared his head. He loved the sound of his clicking heels more than anything. When his foot came down, it made two quick, crisp sounds in succession, as his heel clicked and then his toe. It was his favourite sound in the world, a very cultured, important sound.  
There was a door. The guards posted outside moved mechanically out of the way as he approached, and the prince was constantly horrified by the way an inanimate metal statue could move like a person. He opened the door nevertheless, and entered.  
The room was well furnished, and the first person he saw was one he hadn't expected - Commander Packbell, the Minister of Defense. Packbell smiled at him warmly. "Your Majesty," he said.  
"Commander," replied the prince, "If you're finished here, I rather hope you have something more important to do elsewhere"  
"Of course, Majesty," Packbell replied, "Doctor, if I may be excused." Without waiting for a response, he left the way the prince had come, and closed the door behind him.  
There was a large oak desk before Martin, a flurry with papers of all kinds. The plaque atop the desk, with neat silver lettering, read 'Prof. Ivo Robotnik - Minister of Science'. Robotnik himself was seated behind it, hard at work on some kind of schematic design, riddled with mathematics and jargon that the prince couldn't begin to understand.  
"Majesty," Robotnik said absently, without looking up.  
The science minister had become a very different person, physically, in the ten years he had held this title. He was in his thirties, now, the remenants of his youth were about to say their final farewell and leave him forever, his skin showed the first signs of wrinkling. His head was entirely bald, his scalp a half sphere like a perfect dome, smooth from his neck to the creases of his forehead. In a bizarre kind of balance, he had grown a stiff moustache that stretched out either side of his head like two orange brooms.  
Perhaps the clearest difference was his size. Robotnik did very little physical labour, he did the intricate work on machines occasionally, but the majority of the construction was done by other machines. Construction machines built robots, which in turn repaired and sustained the construction machines. Robotnik was the brain that allowed it all to work, and years of very little movement other than sitting, eating and thinking had done considerable damage to his once decent figure. Robotnik had always been terribly barrel-chested, but now he was obese.  
"Doctor," the squirrel prince said, "I do fear that things are getting out of hand"  
"How so?" Robotnik asked. He still did not look up.  
"These robots, for one thing. I do hate them so"  
"Well, you ought to get used to them. We're going to be making a whole lot more of them soon"  
"Quiet down," the prince insisted, and toned his own voice down, "That's another thing. I'm not sure I trust your level of discretion. Just moments ago, one of those media parisites outside asked me something about nanotechnology"  
At this, Robotnik stopped what he was doing and looked up. "What did they say"  
"Nothing in particular, but it's not something you just bring up unless you know something about it. There are people who know what's going on here, and if this gets back to my father"  
"It won't get back to your father," Robotnik assured, "Your father is not somebody you need worry about much longer"  
Something of an alarm sounded in the office, not a loud noise, but loud enough to startle the prince. Robotnik appeared frustrated, and checked a laptop computer that was idle on his desk. He grunted loudly. "Hello. I think your leak is making a very stupid move, Majesty. Somebody is hacking my computer"  
"Hacking?" the prince shrieked.  
"Don't worry," Robotnik replied, "My system is infallible. Even if he breeches the code, the SWAT-bots are remotely channelled into my network. They will be arresting him as we speak"  
"For your sake I hope you're right," the prince said, "Just remember that you have as much to lose as I do."

As the space shuttle trailed its way into the sky, it could be seen from hundreds of miles in every direction. Residents from Station Square, from some of the western settlements, even from Catilina far to the north, could see the trail of smoke as it burst from a miniscule point of light. Thousands were watching, but only one was dismayed.  
Knuckles the Echidna observed the launch from a telescope. The image was too small to make out properly even so, but to the naked eye it appeared to be a white line connecting the ground to the sky.  
He folded the telescope and frowned at the bizarre spectacle. Something he had seen a number of times in his young life, always from the same location. It stirred him. He picked himself up and looked out to the calm sea, glad that he didn't live on the mainland where so many bizarre things happened. It wasn't a spectacle he wanted to witness up-close.  
Knuckles was nineteen years old, and heavy-built. His bright red fur and dreadlocked spines were a mirror to his wild nature. He was strong and independent. He was also completely, utterly alone.  
It wasn't that the echidna never craved the contact of others. It wasn't in his nature to be alone. For eleven years he had been the only survivor of his kind, his mother having died in childbirth, and having buried his own father at the age of eight. The gods had taken his entire civilisation into the sky and left his family behind, and he agonized over it. He wasn't even sure he believed in the gods anymore.  
But he did have important work to be done, ancient work that would likely die with him. He was the guardian of the island, as his father before him, and the great Locke Echidna from whom he spawned had taught him everything.  
The island. It was his life. He would gladly lay that life down for it. He didn't know why it was important, only that it was. It sustained him. He was the final legacy of the echidnas, the last person on Mobius who would care for the island that floated in the heavens.  
The ocean was calm. Two hundred feet above its surface, a land mass hovered softly. It made no sound, it merely hung like an ornament in the clear blue atmosphere, a colour that reflected off the great ocean below.  
Knuckles' life was for the island, and for the Master Emerald. He was unaware how far this dedication would be tested in the coming weeks.

In the heart of Mobitropolis, late afternoon, a blue hedgehog caught up on his sleep, inside a filth-encrusted city dumpster. The garbage that formed his bed was pointy, but no moreso than he himself.  
His dreams were the only place where he could remember. They came to him, not always, but at times when he was troubled or in times of hardship. He never remembered them when he awoke, only the residue of familiarity and realism. These were events that really happened.  
He was running. He liked to run, but this time he was not running for the love of it. He ran to escape. He ran to get away from his life, or however it could be described as a life. He was persued by ghosts. They haunted him every time he closed his eyes, invisible, nameless entities from his past. He didn't dare look back to see their faces. If they caught him, it would be over, and he knew that if he looked back he would lose the will to run.  
He could see the light of day, now. The sunlight was rushing towards him at an impossible speed. The ghosts were destroyed by the light, but one of them remained and, angrily, it roared out his name.  
The hedgehog was blown back into reality. Something landed on top of him with furious power and snapped him awake so quickly that he wasn't sure he wasn't still dreaming. The light was blocked by some kind of material over him, and something heavy thumped beside him with an audible grunt. The hedgehog screamed.  
"Shut up!" somebody exclaimed. The hedgehog could see the light again. Somebody was furiously groping at him, pulling his spines in awkward angles, flailing with the confusion of a madman. At last the stranger slipped a hand over his mouth, tight, and the two of them lay huddled together, almost intimately. The stranger was panting with hoarse breaths, trying to stay quiet. There was silence apart from those breaths.  
Then, more sounds. A clanking outside the dumpster. Something walking around with metal shoes. The stranger's icy grip pulled tight on the hedgehog, tense and shivering softly. The hedgehog knew those sounds. His new unwanted roommate was being persued by SWAT-bots.  
The sounds faded, travelled down the alley. He could feel the relief in the stranger's muscles, as they loosened, as did the stranger's breath. He heard an unfamiliar voice speak to him.  
"If I let you go, will you keep quiet"  
The hedgehog could hardly breathe. He obliged quickly with a nod of his head, and he was released.  
"Who are you?" he asked.  
"It's not important," the stranger replied. The hedgehog shifted his position to see the stranger's face. He was a weasil, filthy from head to toe, dressed in some kind of badly torn black trenchcoat.  
"If you've killed someone or something, I'm not going to protect you," the hedgehog warned.  
The weasil appeared shocked, as if he had been struck. "I've done nothing bad!" he rasped, "I'm fighting for the good guys! The things I know are imperative to your survival in the future, I suggest you help me by keeping your trap firmly shut. If I'm caught, we could all be dead next week"  
The hedgehog was taken aback. The stranger was clearly a lunatic. He didn't know how he should handle the situation, whether he should betray this stranger to the authorities, or hide him and risk being tied into his crime. Moralities clashed in his mind, if only he could think as fast as he could move.  
"What are you going to do with me?" he asked.  
"I didn't know anybody was in here, I leapt in to hide myself. I'm not going to do anything with you, like I said I'm not a criminal"  
"So what if I give you up to the SWATs"  
"Well, that's your choice, isn't it. But, like I said, if you do, we're both dead"  
"They can detect you, you know. Heat sensors. Motion detectors. They'll catch you eventually, you can't just lie here"  
"What are you trying to do, break my spirits"  
More silence. It was almost agonizing. Then the stranger began to breathe heavily again.  
"I'm going to try and make a run for it"  
"Hey wait"  
The weasil leaped out of the dumpster as quickly as he had dropped in. The hedgehog sat up, curious to see what would happen.  
The situation was dire. SWAT-bots lined every street and blocked every alley. It was as if they had been waiting for him to make the first move.  
"Halt," a mechanical voice, devoid of character, commanded, "You are under arrest. Lie down with your arms behind your head"  
The stranger searched frantically for somewhere else to run. In every direction, a robot stood within reach of him, ready to capture him with iron strength. If he moved to run, it would be over for him.  
The hedgehog saw an open corridor, unprotected. It was too far for the weasil, if he ran towards it he would be intercepted and captured. The hedgehog's gaze shifted back to the stranger - desperately he was looking left, right, left again. Then he looked back at the hedgehog, a desperate, begging look.  
The hedgehog didn't know what it was about that look. There was something pathetically innocent about it, so sincere and upsetting. Vague memories in the hedgehog's own mind recognised that look - he saw some of himself in it.  
The weasil fell to his knees. The SWAT-bots began to move in. Before he knew what he was doing, the hedgehog leaped from the dumpster, swooped down and scooped the stranger off his knees. The robots had not bargained on the hedgehog's speed, and he powered down the open corridor he had seen. SWAT-bots groped for him and missed, in an instant they had broken free of their trap.  
"I don't know why I'm doing this!" he exclaimed. The stranger, spellbound, said nothing. They ran through the empty streets of Mobitropolis, the hedgehog's eyes scanning the street for more SWATs. The robots were tricky - they had a hive mind network, which meant that every SWAT in the city knew everything that just one of them knew. So every robot in the city would automatically be chasing them, from every direction.  
There was a loud zap to the hedgehog's left, and he looked as he sped past. A signpost had been hit by a force beam, and was melted and blackened.  
"WHAT?" he shrieked, "They're firing at us! They're not allowed to do that"  
Another beam barely missed him. It was time to employ tactical measures.  
The hedgehog ducked into an alley, leaped into some boxes and hurled himself and his captive over a fence. He ran into the street as the SWAT-bots trapped themselves behind him. When he reached the street, he saw a new troupe on the other side running towards them.  
The hedgehog poured on the speed, leaving the robots in his dust. They fired two more beams, which hit the road behind him.  
After running a while, the surroundings began to appear less commercial and more urban. They were reaching the outskirts of Mobitropolis. The hedgehog could see the Great Forest behind a line of houses.  
Taking a shortcut through somebody's yard, the hedgehog reached the woods and threw his captive and himself into a muddy ditch. Once again they lay together, only this time, the other was panting.  
"That was incredible," the weasil said at last, "That was simply... incredible. My stars... thank you! Thank you so much, you've saved us all..."

The sun began to go down. A hedgehog and a weasil walked together through the forest. SWAT-bots were not equipped to handle the wilderness, so it was a refuge.  
"You must be pretty important," the hedgehog said, "They were firing at us. They were shooting to kill, and I've never seen them do that before"  
"I'm not surprised," the weasil replied, "The things I know. It would be best for a lot of people if I were dead"  
"Okay, stop"  
They stopped walking. The hedgehog turned to his strange companion. "You keep saying that you have information that can kill everybody"  
"No, I have information that can save people from being killed. Something is stirring, big things are happening. Very big things, and so secret that I don't even think the king has any idea"  
"How big?" the hedgehog asked, curious.  
"Huge. Treason, plans for regicide. A coup on the throne. Possibly the death of everybody in the kingdom." He broke off. "I shouldn't tell you this. You'll become a target"  
"Yeah," the hedgehog scoffed, "As if I'll ever be able to show my face in that city again. I just helped a wanted criminal to escape arrest"  
The weasil sighed, "There is research going on. Bad research, completely secret. Nobody knows about it because it's happening thousands and thousands of miles above the ground, on that accursed space colony. Nanotechnology, cybernetic conversion. In layman's terms, a 'robotizer"  
"Robotizer? What's that"  
"We're not precisely sure," the weasil replied, "But we have good reason to believe it does just what it sounds like, it converts biological organisms - you and I - into robots. The operation is headed by Ivo Robotnik, the science minister. We have no idea who else is in on it, but the veins run deep into the government"  
"What do you mean, 'we'?" the hedgehog asked, "There's some group of you? Conspiracy theorists"  
"We call ourselves Freedom Fighters," the weasil replied, "And we are not conspiracy theorists. We have factual information, these things are happening. Our leader is a plant in the government. We all came together because of our skills, we've all seen the evidence. That's why I'm here - gathering evidence. I was caught... But you, we owe everything to you. The things I found out, it could enable us to stop this before it spells the end for us. I'm going to report back immediately, and I want to take you with me"  
"Whoa," the hedgehog protested, "Take me? Where? I don't know about this"  
"Knothole," came the excited reply, "Our base of operations, it's deep in the forest. I want to take you, they will be so greatful. I have to tell them what you've done"  
"Well, okay," the hedgehog said, skeptical, "But only because I have nowhere else to go."

Knothole. They reached it before nightfall. There was a clearing in the forest, but enough trees remained within that the canopy was closed. It couldn't be seen from the air.  
There was some kind of small village, a number of people wandering about doing various chores. There was a fire burning in the centre. The weasil approached two makeshift guards who stood nervously at the entrance to the clearing. They didn't seem to like the look of the hedgehog, and the feeling was quite mutual.  
It took a lot of explaining. The guards didn't want to let a stranger in. The weasil was so passionate, however, that they finally let him through. Knothole must have been an important secret indeed.  
The hedgehog was put up in an empty, shabby-looking hut that let the wind through and looked like it might fall down. The bed was an uncomfortable pile of cloth. He managed, however, to drift off to sleep. Before he did, he idly realised that he never knew the strange weasil's name. Possibly because he hadn't given out his own.  
But he didn't know his own. He was nameless, just another stranger, but a stranger without a past life. It troubled him until he drifted away.

That night, the hedgehog dreamed about running from ghosts.


	2. Great Forest

PROJECT MOBITROPOLIS  
S Peter Davis 

All characters (C) SEGA, Archie and SP Davis 2004.  
Used without permission

* * *

GREAT FOREST

Birds chirped in the trees as if it were the first day of Spring. Light filtered softly through the branches of the Great Forest canopy and warmed the face of a young hedgehog who had never slept so well for as long as he could remember.  
A doe wandered in from the forest to inspect the goings on. Indeed, things were active in the young village as Mobians of every race and creed were milling about busily.  
The blue hedgehog watched this from the entrance of the rather useless hut. Badly constructed as it was, it certainly beat out the prospect of another night in a city dumpster.  
He was not a part of this. He was not an agent of any resistance force, and he did not wish to tie himself up in any kind of anarchist uprising from within the Kingdom of Acorn. He was a street rat, a homeless hedgehog, not a freedom fighter. As such, he quietly made his way to leave the village.  
It was not so easy, however, as the rebels were a tight-knit group and he stood out like a bright blue beacon. He could feel the eyes scanning over him as he embarrassedly walked through a secluded path behind a line of huts. He felt about three inches tall.  
"Hey, hey there," somebody said, "Hello? Hello"  
The hedgehog stopped and turned. He hadn't noticed that he had almost rudely walked past two other hedgehogs. There was a male and a female, neither very much older than he himself was, the male had red-brown spines and the female's were almost pink. The male had an amused expression, his mouth half-cocked into a boyish grin.  
"Hi," the blue hedgehog replied, giving a half-hearted wave.  
"You going somewhere pretty soon?" the amused stranger asked, "I mean, no offense to you or anything, but it'd be a mighty shame if you just went back to the city and ratted us out to the first SWAT that twisted your arm. Not that I think you would, but I'm more optimistic than most folks around here. What's your name"  
There was an uncomfortable silence. "My name"  
"Yeah, well I'd like a formal introduction to the kid who saved our agent, if that's all right"  
It took him a moment to realise that the stranger was talking about him. "Oh, uh, well, I don't have a name," he replied dumbly, and cringed in embarrassment.  
The stranger gave his amused grin again, and elbowed the girl next to him. She chuckled and gave him a playful shove. "Be nice, Keth"  
"Well, Great Nameless One," he said, and he stretched his hand out to the other, "I'm Kethriel Rosethorne, this is my sister Amy"  
"Call me Amy, or Rose," she added, "Either's fine"  
The blue hedgehog stared at the hand for an elongated period, before taking it in his and giving it a weak shake. "Are you the leader here"  
"Well, kind of," Kethriel replied, "Actually I'm just Special Ops, but everyone comes to me anyway when our real leader isn't here, which is actually most of the time"  
"Who's your real leader"  
"Can't tell you," the other hedgehog replied. He spoke quickly and with many stumbles and errors in his speech, words which he repeated until he got correct. He seemed strangely over-enthusiastic and good humoured. "You have to have level three clearance in Knothole security to know who the leader is. I can tell you, though, that the leader is a mole in the Mobitropolis parliament, and the leader has access to a lot of information that most of us never would otherwise, but the information that the leader can't get has to be achieved through Special Operations." He didn't breathe as he talked, and took a deep breath now. "And actually that's what I wanted to talk to you about, uh, guy. Slick pulled off a major hack yesterday, I hear he got a lot of urgent information that would've been lost if you hadn't been there in time"  
The hedgehog sighed and looked around uneasily. "I helped him," he said, "Not because I'm any kind of rebel, I don't really know why I did it"  
"Oh, we're not rebels either," Kethriel insisted, "We're the loyalists. Here, why don't you have some breakfast with us? We don't have any bacon and eggs, I'm afraid, just cereal, but I'd love to talk to you some more." His expression was friendly, his eyes locked and persuasive. The blue hedgehog didn't know why, but he relented and agreed to the invitiation, although he remained wary about what he was getting into.

"So, tell me about yourself"  
The hedgehog was hungrier than he had thought. It was amazing how the eyes and the stomach seemed intrinsically connected around mealtime, and the very sight of food was enough to change the gut's opinion on things. He began to respond between spoons full of the sugary cereal, but the miscommunication between his hand and his mouth ended it in a choke. Kethriel held back a chuckle at this. "Hey, easy there"  
"What do you mean?" the blue hedgehog asked.  
"Well, you can tell a lot from a name, that's what I always say. But you haven't given me a name... which arguably tells me more than a name could, anyway. But humour me, where do you come from? Where are you going? In life, I mean. Where is your life taking you"  
"Nowhere," was the reply, "Somewhere. I dunno. I live in a bin"  
Kethriel smiled at this, but it wasn't a humoured smile, it was the smile of somebody who knows more than they let on. "So," he said, "The hedgehog with no name, who comes from nowhere, goes nowhere, and lives nowhere of any great import. Un camino en el desierto. You remind me so much of myself it's scary"  
"Hey you- what? No, you don't know what it's like, living on the street, feeding off what people throw away. You live here, eating cereal in the morning, with a roof over your head. You have this village to run. You have purpose"  
That smile again. "Interesting," Kethriel replied, and had a spoonful of cereal. "You think this is purpose? Telling people what to do, processing information?" He spoke with his mouth full, like a child with bad table manners, and it appeared quite comical.  
"Well, you're a leader, you lead people around, you get things done in the world," the other hedgehog replied, "I just do what I need to survive"  
"Assuring your survival, then, for... what? A future without purpose? Doesn't that feel like flogging a dead horse? Like asking questions in a letter"  
"Are you asking if I ever feel like ending it all"  
"Not really... goodness no, nothing so morbid. Forgive me, I'm just making conversation." Kethriel had another spoonful, and then there was a moment of silence. The blue hedgehog took to stirring the milk in his bowl; the cereal was gone, and he felt it was bad manners to pick up the bowl and slurp it down. To his shock, Kethriel picked up his own bowl and began gulping, and having finished it off in mere moments, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and let out a loud belch.  
"Geez, Keth," came the voice of Amy from another room, "Company manners please, bro"  
The guest lost his appetite and pushed his own bowl aside.  
"But you know," Kethriel said, "For a nobody without a purpose, you certainly have an interesting gift"  
"What do you mean?" asked the other hedgehog.  
"Your speed," Kethriel replied, making his fingers walk across the table, "I've heard that you run faster than anything anybody has ever seen. It just seems strange that nature would impart such a gift upon somebody if not to apply a purpose"  
"It's useless though. I mean, for anything except stealing from people, which I hate. Doesn't sound like purpose to me, it sounds like more of a drain"  
"Of course. But you have to wonder, now. Apply the situation of my agent, running through Mobitropolis with all those robots on his tail. He runs into somebody else, somebody with no talent at all, just an average schmuck. Now, Slick is good at what he does, but no mobian is an island. Without any help, he gets caught and let's face it probably killed, and without his particular talents our movement falls apart and by the end of the week we're all dead. From this angle it sure seems like you had a purpose out there yesterday"  
"Maybe. I dunno," the blue hedgehog sighed in a mildly frustrated way, "I don't know what you're trying to say. I don't see your point"  
"Oh, no point," Kethriel replied, "Not really. I go on and on sometimes. I guess if you needed me to sum it up for you, the closest thing I could say is that nobody does anything alone. Our lives all fit together like a big complicated jigsaw puzzle. If that wasn't true, then nobody would have a purpose at all. Either nobody does, or everybody does. I prefer to believe the latter"  
At this point, Amy entered the room, a smile on her face. "My brother has been bothering you with his pseudo-intellectual horsecrap, I can see it in your eyes"  
"Oh come on, Ames, I'm just making conversation," Kethriel replied, and gave her a playful nudge, "You're closer to the kid's age, I guess you're anxious to talk about video games and pop music"  
Amy snorted, "Yeah, you're really old and wise, you're a regular prophet." She turned to the blue hedgehog with one cocked eyebrow. "So he's, what, two years older than me and he thinks he's an oracle"  
This made the guest laugh. For some reason, Amy's presence seemed to break the tension, and he hoped she'd stay to mediate. Thankfully, she pulled up a chair, and that alone made the conversation significantly easier.

"So, what's this all about?" the blue hedgehog asked, "Purpose or not, if something's threatening my life, I want to know about it. Is it really that bad"  
Kethriel cleared his throat and put two fingers over his mouth for a moment, as if trying to figure out what he could safely reveal, or to pinpoint a mess of explanation into an exact reply. Finally, he clasped his hands together and spoke.  
"There are a lot of people," he said, "Who think that Prince Martin Acorn is going to be the one who leads Mobitropolis into a golden age. They think that he will restore the monarchy to its former glory, and lead the people into the prosperity of the old times, the way it was before all this ultra-technological nonsense. I don't know him personally, but I've learned from certain people who do, and from what I do know, I doubt he has a lot of prosperity for the people in mind. There's a lot of talk in the palace, and although nobody would dare make it public, the rumour is that King Acorn intends to rethink his legacy and pass the throne to his daughter instead"  
"Huh?" the blue hedgehog interrupted, "Why"  
"Nobody is entirely sure," Kethriel replied, "Father's intuition? Something in Martin's personality that only a parent could see? Either way, those in the know say that Martin is a little too keen on that throne. We discussed purpose earlier... Martin has very different ideas about purpose. It seems that his opinion of people like you and myself is that we are little more than excess waste, like redundant words in a sentence that could be made a lot clearer... if the kingdom was rid of all the unnecessary afterthoughts of society, then it would be more streamlined and more focused on the important task of making him a lot more comfortable"  
"I'm not sure I get it..." the blue hedgehog admitted.  
"A city without useless people," Amy clarified.  
"That's right," Kethriel said, "A land of leaders without followers. Purpose without product, perpetual service to the government. The rumour is that Martin is so desperate to get the throne that he'll go to any insane length to do it... even if that means making his claim prematurely"  
"That's the coup that Slick mentioned"  
Kethriel nodded. "Now, there are some things that we know for certain. Other things are just speculation. What we do know for sure is that Project Mobitropolis is a cover operation, a big lie that only a few are privy to. What we don't know, is what it's a cover for, exactly. We do know that Prince Martin is involved in a few disturbing extra-curricular activities with the Science Minister, Robotnik. What we need to find out now is precisely what those activities are. There are a lot of possibilities being thrown around, the one that troubles me the most is the one involving nanotechnology"  
"The robotizer," the guest murmered.  
"Right again," Kethriel replied, and narrowed his eyes. "That's the problem with Slick, he's great at gathering intelligence, but not so great at bottling it up. Still, I guess it would all have been explained to you sooner or later. Martin seems to fancy the idea of robotization - purpose in a can, if you will. The easiest way to make robots out of the masses is... well, to quite literally make robots out of the masses. See, the strangest thing about this is that Prince Martin is notoriously revolted by robots, so his support for this project would seem to suggest that he's been coaxed into it by another, somebody with both the ability and the authority to pull something like this off. That's where Robotnik comes into it"  
A chill went down the blue hedgehog's spine. "So that's it then. Prince Martin is planning to robotize the entire lower class of Mobitropolis, and have them serve drinks in the palace. How did you find out all this stuff"  
"Well, as I said, our contact is very close to the inner workings of the government," said Kethriel, "It was our contact who formed this group. Most of us used to be civil servants, myself included. Others are elites specifically chosen, very hush-hush. Like you for example"  
The guest laughed. "I'm not an elite"  
Kethriel cocked a smile and glanced at his sister. "We'll see."

"What are we doing out here?" the blue hedgehog asked, more than a little frustration showing in his tone from Kethriel's vagueness. The older hedgehog had been leading him for a while, through the village and out into a large clearing, not quite large enough to be called a savanna, but nevertheless an uncommon opening in the usually crowded canopy of the Great Forest. Kethriel had brought with him an apple, but he hadn't eaten it.  
"Just something I wanted to show you," Kethriel replied, "You see, I- HEY HEADS UP!" Suddenly and without more than a moment's warning, he spun around and hurled the apple at the other hedgehog with all the skill of a baseball pitcher. The target let out a short yelp and caught it before it bounced off his forehead. After a moment to gather his senses, he looked down at the shiny green fruit in his hands.  
"Wow, nice catch," Kethriel said, and clapped his hands a few times.  
"Is that why you brought me out here?" the other hedgehog snapped sharply, "Baseball"  
"No, nothing so pleasant, I'm afraid," Kethriel replied, and his expression hardened. Suddenly, he didn't seem quite so inviting, and the other found himself wishing they weren't so alone. Kethriel was staring at him, an unreadable, ponderous expression on his face.  
"I'm afraid," he said, "That you know too much." He held up something that he had been concealing behind his back, and his companion saw that it was a pistol. Something terrifying occurred to him in a split second, something which nevertheless seemed to make perfect sense in the context of the situation.  
Kethriel intended to execute him.  
As the red-brown hedgehog fired the weapon, which shot bright red force beams through the air with a crackling buzz, his victim let out a panicking scream and jumped around in a disorganized mess of jerking reactions, ducking and weaving and almost falling over. It occurred to him that his attacker was laughing, and his fear turned to fury. In his defence, he launched himself at Kethriel, whose laughter cut off in a startled shout. The two hedgehogs landed in a heap, Kethriel still chuckling and the other with a face turning red and teeth bared.  
"Whoa, whoa, hey!" Kethriel exclaimed, "Hey settle down, it's just a toy replica! This thing couldn't even hurt an insect!" To demonstrate, he turned the weapon on himself and shot himself point-blank in the temple. He recoiled slightly, but the beam splashed off his head harmlessly. "Ow... well okay, I guess it does hurt a little"  
The other hedgehog pulled himself to his feet, grunting, angry and embarrassed. "What did you do that for?" he demanded.  
"Had to see for myself," Kethriel replied, "We use these things in combat training. They're harmless, but they emulate the weapons that the SWAT-bots use. These beams travel about three times faster than a bullet. Usually, you have to be already moving when they fire at you, and even then it's almost impossible to avoid them unless you're well trained. What you just did, I've never seen anybody else do in my time at Knothole. I fired on you standing still, and you dodged it"  
"Yeah, so"  
"I mean, you're fast, kid. I mean you're really, really fast. You moved like a dancing monkey during a drug overdose, but it was so quick it was almost supersonic"  
Kethriel continued talking, but the blue hedgehog couldn't hear him anymore.  
The clearing had darkened, suddenly and swiftly, like the sun itself was eclipsed. He wasn't standing anymore, he was running. Running for his life, because there were ghosts behind him, and they wouldn't stop until they had destroyed him.  
Was this a dream? Or was this a reality? All he knew was that the memories had hit him so fast and so hard that it was impossible to discern the past from the present. All he knew was that Kethriel was gone, replaced by a ghost, and the ghost was screaming out his name, and that name was so familiar that it was almost a joke that he couldn't recall it.  
"...so quick it was almost supersonic"  
The ghosts' voices echoed in his head. Now he wasn't running anymore, the ghosts were carrying him. He was flat on his back, unable to move. His eyes cracked open to see the lights in the ceiling, a recurring pattern of hypnotic fluorescent circles like flying discs. The ghosts were chattering away, chattering away, chattering away, all simultaniously and in indecipherable languages. His head was beginning to throb with pain, his mind desperately trying to prevent these repressed memories from seeping through.  
The light was back.  
The clearing had returned.  
The hedgehog was still on his back, but now he could feel the grass tickling him as he lay there. Kethriel was kneeling over him, shaking him gently. "Kid? Kid? Are you all right"  
The blue hedgehog looked up at his host as one looks at a stranger. He opened his mouth to answer, but only said one thing.  
"My name is Sonic"  
He passed out.

Mobitropolis was a clean city, but if one only scratched a little at the shining exterior, it could reveal the much darker, filthier core that marred its beauty, a flaw hidden from the world as a child hides his mess in the closet. Every city has this. You will never find a photograph of it in a travel brochure; the idea of an ideal city is one without this tarnished interior, but it occurs naturally, just as there is no light without darkness.  
This darkness, however, was more of a problem. It was not a benign side-effect of the modern world, rather a cancer, a malignant tumour, the residue of a disease. Everybody felt it, but it did not exist to the extent that anybody really noticed it. You could feel it when you saw the Prince's shallow smile, you could feel it when you saw the dark robots painted in glossy police uniforms, you could feel it when you saw the public cheering the launch of another shuttle, perhaps while having their pockets picked by stealthy street thieves. Things were good to the untrained eye. Things were very good - but they felt so wrong.  
It was darkest in Robotnik's laboritory. It was noticed visually, as the lights were dimmed to serve the professor's more photosensitive experiments, but it was also a feeling. Difficult to explain in words, but nevertheless present, as some depth of a Mobian's psyche seemed to register somehow that all was not right with this place.  
Robotnik himself worked away at a project with all the patience and reason of a boy with a hobby. Hammering, welding, soldering, shaping... Of all the products his mind produced, this was the only project he personally worked on these days. This was not another clone from the assembly line, this was a personal effort. The doctor was putting his soul into this one, this was a special exception.  
He put the welding tool down and turned off its flame, lifting his visor with the other hand. His artwork was taking shape, now. He picked up the claw and admired it. Four iron spike fingers hung limply but jaggedly from a dull, flaccid metal wrist. It was like a puppet's arm, some dark marionette. Robotnik placed it in a box and locked it away with uncharacteristic loving care.

Sonic.  
The blue hedgehog said it again and again, aloud, getting used to the feel. It seemed like slipping into a favourite pair of shoes, and finding that they still fit.  
Sonic. My name is Sonic.  
He sat cross-legged on the pile of cloth that comprised his bed in the temporary village of Knothole. Why was he called Sonic? That wasn't a name, it was an adjective. He tried to dig deeper into his memories, but they were as elusive as the remenants of a dream.  
Night had fallen, and the mosquitos were attacking him. He could hear the crackling of several fires outside, and considered sitting near one of them.  
At this point, Kethriel poked his head into the shelter. "Hey there," he said, "Want something to eat"  
"Heck yeah," Sonic replied, "Where do I go"  
"Actually I'd like you to come to dinner with me and meet the operations council," was the reply, "We're discussing a lot of things, and one of them is you"  
"The operations council?" Sonic asked, "Sounds like something you can only be in if you're important"  
Kethriel smiled "Well, that's the good thing about being in charge. I can invite anyone I like to dinner, and nobody can say a wretched thing to stop me." He laughed, "No, seriously, it's okay. They'd like to meet you."

The operations council met in the most stable construction in the entire village. It was an enormous tent, covered in leaves and camoflage patterns, held up by a forest of metal poles. The entire thing was easily collapsable, assumedly so that in the event of some kind of raid, it could be packed up with the rest of the village and either destroyed or taken somewhere else. The interior was lit by gas lanterns on poles, and four people were milling about, dishing up food. Kethriel left Sonic at the doorway and met the closest counciller, greeting him with a short hug, and they all began casually socialising as they sat down at the round, wooden table where the food had been freshly served. Sonic recognised one of the council as Slick, the weasil he had rescued from the SWAT-bots in Mobitropolis.  
Kethriel turned back to Sonic for a moment. "Come on in, sit down," he invited, and Sonic reluctantly agreed.  
Everybody began to dig into the food, which was a modest meal, far from a feast. There was a low quality ham and some vegetables. Sonic didn't care, he was hungry, and it looked better than what the other villagers were eating.  
"Sonic," Kethriel began, "This is the operations council... we call ourselves the Freedom Fighters, in light of the situation. Slick, you've already met. He's the computer analyst"  
"I prefer the term 'hacker'," Slick interrupted, not looking up from his plate as he shovelled food into his mouth.  
"Then there's Rotor, mechanics and security," Kethriel added, motioning to a slightly overweight walrus. Rotor looked up and smiled, offering a half-hearted wave. Kethriel continued by introducing Bunnie Rabbit, stealth and espionage, and an armadillo named Rockfall, whose specialty was referred to as tactics, which probably had something to do with gunfighting.  
"Quite a team," Sonic commented.  
"Heck yeah!" Slick exclaimed, "We are the team! From Mobitropolis to Arack, nobody outshines us!" This sentiment was answered by a lot of whooping and loud agreeance from the other Freedom Fighters, a few of whom gave each other high-fives. The group was obviously very close, which made Sonic feel a little like a third wheel.  
"You're lucky, there's a seat for you," Kethriel said, "Our leader is back at the palace tonight"  
"Who is he?" Sonic asked.  
Kethriel just shook his head. "You're not ready to know yet, I'm afraid. That is to say, I don't think there's any danger in you knowing, but my friends might not agree with me"  
"It's a security issue," Bunnie added. She spoke with a heavy Southasian accent. "You understand, don't you sugar-hog"  
"Sure," Sonic replied.  
"So you're the kid with amnesia, right?" Rotor asked, "You can't remember anything"  
"Not really, no. I remember about two years back from now, but after that, it's all a blank"  
"You get a bump on the head or something?" Bunnie asked - her accent made it difficult to discern what she was saying, but Sonic thought he could get the hang of it.  
"No," he said, "I mean, I don't think so. It wasn't a sudden thing, like waking up one morning and not knowing where you are or who you are. I think I just did the same thing I've always done, day in day out, and one day it kind of struck me that my entire past had faded out of my head, just gone. You know, by the time I actually met other people, It'd been so long anybody had talked to me that I couldn't even remember my own name. It came back to me today - I'm Sonic"  
"That was a pretty bad turn you took," Kethriel said, "You passed out so long I was ready to go and find a doctor"  
"Yeah well this guy sure seemed pretty supersonic back there in Mobitropolis," Slick added, and he reached over for a second helping of food, "I mean, wow, that was awesome"  
"So you keep saying," Kethriel replied, "Which is why I would like to make a bold suggestion.  
Rotor laughed. "You make a lot of bold suggestions"  
"Well, call it intuition. Maybe I just have an eye for special talents. I'd like to send Sonic as fourth agent on tomorrow's operation"  
The table fell silent. Everybody had stopped eating. Sonic's fork was halfway to his mouth, which hung open as his eyes passed from one Freedom Fighter to the other.  
"Be serious," Rockfall insisted, speaking for the first time, "I mean, no offense to the kid, but we haven't known him more than fifteen minutes"  
Kethriel nodded, "Well, that's what tonight is for. You'll get to know him"  
Rockfall was diligent, "I trained for months to get a place in this unit. We all did. None of us are amatuers in any sense of the word"  
There was a short silence. Sonic's face was reddening, he had no idea that anything like this would be suggested, but he felt like a co-conspiritor. Before he could speak out, Kethriel began to speak.  
"I believe now what I have believed for months now," he said, "I believe that this week, things are going down. This week is crunch time, the rebellion has silently been moving the pieces for an entire decade, setting up the battlefield, and sometime this week they will move for a clean and uneventful checkmate. We have to block the king now, or forever hold our peace. There is nothing I would like more than to mould Sonic in the usual three months training, but we don't have three months. We don't have three days, we don't even have one. Every hour is crucial from now on"  
"But you're more trained than all of us combined!" Rotor said, "If we need a fourth agent, why don't you come"  
Kethriel shook his head. "You and I both know that all the training in the world wouldn't bring me even close to having what Sonic has. His skills are very raw, but they're abundant. That's exactly what we need for a swift operation tomorrow. Time is our worst enemy right now, and who better to pull off a swift operation than the swiftest person in the world"  
The table was silent, but accepting. There was nervousness in the air, but Kethriel had clearly made a kind of sense that nobody could rebut.  
"It's true, you know, I've seen it," Slick admitted, "I've never seen anything like that in my life"  
"I'll give you one thing, Keth," Rotor added, "You've never been wrong, not in all the time I've been here. So I for one don't see any reason not to trust you again. Sonic, it'll be an honour to have you on the team"  
"That's great," Sonic replied, "I mean, that's totally killer, except that I have absolutely no idea what the heck I've just been roped into"  
"The operation," Slick replied, and his voice betrayed a tone of excitement, "The operation that everything has been building up to ever since we've been here. Operation. Information. Retrieval." The last three words were accentuated by Slick pointing his finger on every word.  
"You're going in," Kethriel continued, "Jacking into Ivo Robotnik's personal computer network, getting anything you can about Project Mobitropolis, then getting the heck out of there. Quick"  
Sonic chuckled, "Oh yeah? How is Robotnik going to let you into his personal computer network"  
"That's where I come in," Slick replied, and he reclined and cracked his knuckles. "Yesterday, when you ran me out of the city. You know what you were really rescuing? This." He pointed to his forehead. "Head full of codes. You see, I have a talent too, just like you. I'm quick. Only my talent is all up here. Photographic memory. Get me near a computer system, within two minutes I can have its most protected secrets downloaded into my brain"  
"Thay call him the walking computer," Bunnie interrupted, "I call him the talking computer"  
"Pay no attention to those who mock me," Slick quipped, "All the rumours are true. Yesterday I jacked in and filled my head with all of Robotnik's most private passwords, and tomorrow I'm going back to use them. Your job is to get my delicious brain into Robotnik's mainframe, alive"  
"It's a little more complicated than that," Kethriel said, "You're sneaking into the center of the palace, which will be swarming with robots and the toughest security the city has to offer. The information you're looking for isn't on any open government network, it's a closed system, Robotnik's personal files. You have to get all the way into his laboritory this time. If anybody is caught, or even seen, it might threaten our entire movement. If they know we know something, they'll change their whole plan and render everything we learn tomorrow as useless"  
"Tense," Sonic said.  
"Yes," Rockfall replied, "Very. Not something for amatuers"  
"I want you to wipe away any feelings of distrust you might have tonight," Kethriel said, "Distrust is poison. We are a team, all of us, whether we're going in tomorrow or not, whether we have experience or not. Sonic, you understand that I would never, ever give you any task that I didn't trust your ability to do"  
"But you don't know me," Sonic replied, "How can you trust me when you don't even know me"  
"I do, though. I've seen what you can do, and I've seen that it isn't just a series of flukes. If there's anything I've come to learn, it's that a single day is more than enough time to judge a person's ability, provided you get to see into their true heart. And I'm pretty sure I have. So tonight, we prepare."

They did prepare, that night. It was the night that came to define the next week of Sonic's life. His sleep that night was dreamless.


	3. Iron Trap

PROJECT MOBITROPOLIS  
S Peter Davis 

All characters (C) SEGA, Archie and SP Davis 2004.  
Used without permission

* * *

IRON TRAP

Knuckles the Echidna was married to his solitude, but we've already established this fact. What we don't yet know are the exact details of how the echidna came to be involved in this situation directly. Behind the scenes of Mobitropolis, a giant chess board was being set. The pieces would soon begin to move, but not before the black team recruited one more pawn. Or, perhaps more aptly, a knight. It happens that Knuckles, in the due course of his daily activities about the solitary Floating Island, detected a presence in his domain late one morning, and this was immediately obvious to him, having been alone for so long, and being as viciously protective of his island as he was.  
"Who goes there?" he demanded, and he held his fists ready, bladed knuckles waving with menace in the humid living quarters. Somebody was standing in the shadows and, although partially obscured, they were not hiding. In fact, they clearly wanted to be seen. The shadowed figure stepped towards Knuckles, and the echidna stepped back - not out of cowardice so much as concern that the stranger was armed.  
"Hello there," the figure said, flippantly as if he was unaware of the tension of the situation.  
"Who are you?" Knuckles asked again, and his guarded surprise began to change into anger. He noticed that the stranger's hands contained only a large satchel, no weapon, and he immediately bared down on the intruder, waiting for an excuse to make the first attack.  
"I wouldn't," the other warned, "If you lay a hand on me, I have five guards positioned nearby who will have you dead several times over before you even hit the ground. I wouldn't dream of underestimating your own fighting abilities, my dear echidna, but these are elite Royal Guards. Better fighters than even you, by far"  
"Five?" Knuckles asked, "Is that all? You could have made it ten, that would almost be a challenge. Right now you have less than that many seconds to tell me who you are and why you're here, before I knock you down, and even then I probably will anyway"  
His intimidation proved annoyingly futile. The stranger spoke in the same tone as he might with a close friend, it was a high class accent, a politician's voice so polite (even when the words themselves were rude) that it revealed itself as a habit. His confidence made Knuckles start to wonder if there really were soldiers in the shadows who could take him down at a moment's excuse.  
"My name," the intruder said, "Is Sir Martin Acorn, Crown Prince of the kingdom of Mobitropolis. I know who you are"  
"Yeah, sure," the echidna replied, "The future king of Mobitropolis put down his duties for the day and made a special trip to this filthy rock to speak to me. People come here from time to time, but they usually come up with something believable"  
"You don't believe me," the supposed prince said.  
"No, I don't," Knuckles replied, "You think I'm going to give you the grand tour just because you tell me you're royalty? That's such an insult that I'm not even going to make this easy on you"  
The guardian moved to attack, but the intruder quickly pulled open the drawstring satchel and thrust its contents between himself and the raging echidna. Knuckles slowed to a stop at the sight of it.  
"Do you know what this is?" the prince asked.  
The rage left Knuckles' face, replaced by a number of other uncertain expressions. He looked from the object to its bearer, and back again. "It's... a rock"  
"I think you know that's not true, Knuckles. You've seen this before. Perhaps not in actuality, but you've known about it. You know what this is"  
Knuckles looked up at the prince. "Where did you get this?" He reached for it, but the prince held it back, covered it again.  
"That's only a taste," he said, "It might have taken the span of an entire lifetime for any one expedition to locate one. We, with our tools and advanced techniques, have found five"  
"Five," Knuckles repeated in awe, and then the wonder left his face to be replaced once again with irritation. "Why would you bother telling me? You're here to gloat"  
"Far from it," Prince Martin replied, "As you know, there are seven to be found. As it happens, we are having unforseen difficulty locating the other two. That is why we have decided to enlist the help of the one person who is familiar with the legend in its entirity"  
"You speak as if I've already agreed to this," Knuckles said.  
The prince smiled, "You will"  
"Oh yeah? Why should I"  
"Because we have an offer that even you cannot resist. I'm not naive enough to think that you would have any use for our money out here, nor any other manner of wealth. That's why I'm offering you the stones themselves. We need these seven stones, Knuckles, but only for a... temporary study. If you helped to complete our collection, then we would eventually complete the bargain by donating that very collection to you, in its entirity"  
Knuckles frowned. "I don't have to help you do squat"  
"Of course not," the prince replied, "And nor do we require you to. With our techniques, we will certainly be able to find the remaining two eventually. However, we are operating on a preferred deadline that it's very much in our interest to honour. It might take longer for us to find them ourselves to our own inconvenience, but in that case we would have no incentive to share such a find with you, being that you weren't even interested enough in the stones to help us look for them. What I'm offering is the chance for you to be a part of something, Knuckles! A part of history! You know that they belong here, on this island, with you. It would fill an emptiness centuries old! It would make this place whole. You know this is true"  
And he did.  
Knuckles put his hand against his temple in frustration. The stranger had been controlling this situation from the moment he set foot on the island, and the echidna didn't like to be played. Worse, he was beginning to believe that he was who he said he was. How else could he have found what he had found, if not for a massive search party? Even if he was lying about the other four, he had at least one, and the stones were lost. Very lost. Their search area was the entire world, and there was no map but for ancient legend. Legend that Knuckles, of anybody, knew best. It would take a very dedicated worldwide expedition and the finances of a king - or perhaps a prince - to recover them.  
The intruder was smiling at him, and they stared wordlessly at each other for quite a time. The stone glowed in its satchel with a soft but eerily luminescent red light that seeped through the cloth, and the echidna's eyes soon fell on it with fascination.

When the sun rose in Mobitropolis, it slid a golden sheet of light over the angular buildings and the ordered symmetry of the city, a beautiful sight that brought with it the promises of a new day. But this was not an ordinary day for Blue, the homeless and simple-living hedgehog who now referred to himself exclusively as Sonic. This morning he did not awaken in a garbage can. Two days ago his only friends were pickpockets, his only home a street corner; he knew nothing of politics, he didn't even remember his own name. Now he was entangled in some kind of revolutionary action force, actually planning an espionage mission into the heart of the palace to retrieve top secret government files. An army of six stood in the shadows of an alleyway, making sure to keep an eye out for SWAT-bots as they schemed, and Sonic, still unaware of the scale of the impending upheaval, went along with all of this with growing fear. The implications of what Kethriel had told him did not fully hit home until later - the idea of this supposed nanotechnology revolution, the creation of a weapon which would be turned against the lower class of Mobitropolis and somehow 'robotize' them as mindless automoton slaves, a kind of genocide that created revinue rather than bodies and waste. Like murder, only user-friendly. Sonic willed the image of Rat and Bosley into his mind, his friends, scooped up by a maniac King Martin Acorn and made into robot slaves, as good as killed. The connotations were more than merely alarming, they were beyond imagining. It was unknown whether the theoretical process of robotization was reversible, the entire concept was based on too-vague rumours and fragments of information learned by contacts and spies trawling around the government, but it seemed generally accepted among the 'Freedom Fighters' that Martin's rise to power would, one way or another, render a future resistance impossible. Therefore it seemed a unanimous policy that one shouldn't think or talk too much about robotization or similar ideas, being that whatever happened after the coup was irrelevant to a movement designed to prevent the coup at all costs.

The Palace of Mobitropolis wasn't quite a castle, and wasn't quite a modern structure either. A kind of medieval architecture stayed with it, circular spires long since out of use, lended the city the briefest glimpse of a time long past. The palace was once a real castle - Mobitropolis was an ancient city. The first royal family had ruled the area over two thousand years earlier. The kingdom was then known as Mobii-Khrensix, old language for the Jewel of Mobius. The Greyblack clan ruled for several hundred years before two great wars between three Kingdoms, known as the Ridgewars, wiped most of them out, and an heir from the Acorn clan rose to power. The kingdom changed its name (after the war, foreign languages changed the local dialect) to Mobi-Ontopolix and then finally to Mobitropolis. This palace was the only unchanging relic through these changing times, the buildings around it shifted their image as technology evolved.  
The palace was also a fortress. It had seen three major wars in its time, the first Ridgewar and the second, and the Android Wars. Its walls had never been breeched. Now it was stronger than ever, the more decorative stone walls reinforced by hard metals from the modern age, adding to its resiliance. The palace was an iron trap, a steel bunker. One reason the Acorns had reigned for so much longer than their cousins the Greyblack clan, was because no invading force had yet been able to enter the palace, despite levelling the city a number of times through history. Now, the Freedom Fighters had to make their way inside. It was possible, but strategy was key.

"Robotnik is speaking in parliament today," Kethriel said, "From eight to midday, he will be away from his office. Midday is the deadline - if you're not out of the palace by then, it's game over. That means that you have six hours from now. I went through all of this last night, but I'll recap"  
He held a rough diagram, which the Freedom Fighters, and Sonic, looked over with great concentration.  
"Robotnik has guards posted here, here and here. Remember that these are robot guards, SWAT-bots, type three, elite units, so you need to remember your training for robot evasion and don't treat them like mobians or else they will bring you down. Sonic, just follow Rockfall's lead, he's team leader so what he says goes. There are only four terminals connected to Robotnik's personal network. Two in the laboratory, one in his office and one in the machines factory in the scientific development and design complex. Robotnik's lab is one of the most well-guarded sections of the entire palace, so we'll probably never see even the low-security experiments, let alone make our way into the second level to the computer terminals"  
"Or if we did," Slick interrupted, "We wouldn't get out again"  
"That's right. That's why our best bet is Robotnik's private office, accessable through the vent in the ceiling. Bunnie will watch Robotnik's movements from an unused storage area outside the parliament, and the rest of you will descend the unpatrolled staircases of the east wing down to the engineering level, where you will enter the air conditioning ducts. Don't forget, the ducts are long and narrow, you can not turn around, so you have to get your route perfect the first time. If you emerge from the wrong vent, you'll almost certainly be caught"  
Sonic gulped, and hoped nobody heard it. Slick just smiled and put his hands on his hips in a smug, almost arrogant, gesture. "Don't worry," he said, "I'll go first. Got the map memorised, it's all up here"  
"Robotnik has guards posted outside his office," Kethriel continued, "And they will hear you if you make a sound. Once you've breached the office, you'll have total radio silence, and you can't so much as sniffle, or else the 'bots will be on you like ants on a chilli-dog"  
"You and your chilli-dogs," Rockfall grumbled, with a half-cocked smile.  
"Hey, they're good, don't mock them," Kethriel replied, "If that's everything, then we should begin. I'll be waiting for you at eleven hundred hours, at the rendezvous we discussed. If you take longer than that, then just get out of there and back here, no matter how close you are to the ticket. I want you guys right out of there and on your way to Knothole by midday, success or not."

It was two hours later when Bunnie Rabbit crept through the hollow backstage of the parliament hall and watched the politicians seat themselves. It was a difficult angle, and at first she worried that she wouldn't be able to see properly and would need a new vantage point. Luckily, though, she at last spotted Ivo Robotnik, vast and slow though he was, dressed formally in a massive business suit and flanked by two other politicians, enter the hall and seat himself awkwardly in the too-small chair at the bench for the Minister of Science. He removed his spectacles to clean them, and Bunnie saw his eyes - tiny marbles in deep, dark craters, only visible by the white points of light reflecting from them. Suddenly he froze, and with those craters he squinted so hard that his entire head seemed to burst into wrinkles, and with a quick, spasmic jerk Bunnie pulled her head around behind the obstacle she used for shelter, fearful that the minister had seen her. But there was no outcry, no disruption of any kind, and she carefully looked again. Robotnik had netted his fingers together on the bench before him, spectacles replaced. She thought herself silly to have reacted as she did; Robotnik was obviously blinder than a bat without his glasses. Still, she decided to find a less conspicuous point of view, if only for her own peace of mind. She watched him as she moved, just to make sure he wasn't watching her. He combed his frankly incredible moustache with one hand, and then ran it over his cueball-bald head and straightened his papers. If he saw her, he made no indication.  
"Bunnie to Rockfall, I have a visual on Robotnik," she said, speaking into a two-way radio. While she kept her eyes on Robotnik, she idly noticed that the bench for the Minister of Defence was empty. This didn't concern her, though, and it stayed in the back of her mind.  
Elsewhere, Slick, Rockfall and Sonic stood at the base of a dark and dusty flight of stairs. The corridor had apparently been used once for easy access to the engineering level, but now that most of the mechanical and electronic inner workings of the palace were maintained by robots (who never actually had to leave the engineering level at all), it was evidently rare that it needed to be used any more.  
Rockfall heard Bunnie's announcement through the radio, and replied by saying "Roger that." He pulled something like a shotgun out of his pack, and loaded it.  
"Are we going to need that?" Sonic asked.  
Rockfall, slightly irritated, turned to him. "I'll put it this way, Quick," the armadillo said, "If we do, then it'll only be to blast our way out of here and back to Knothole. This is a mission of stealth, but it pays to be prepared, and if it comes to the crunch, I'm not going to surrender down here. Now, is everybody ready"  
Without waiting for a reply, he opened the double-doors which led to the engineering department. Almost immediately, Sonic saw thousands of robots milling around, machines of dozens of different designs, all working for some particular purpose and paying absolute attention to it. His first reaction was shock, but the others seemed unconcerned.  
"How will we get past them?" Sonic stammered, "They'll see us"  
"Nah, don't worry kid," Slick replied, "You have to stop thinking of them as mobians. These are just robots, worker drones, they're not concerned with us. Some of them can't even see you, and those who can don't care. They're just all here to do what they're all here to do. Now, SWAT-bots, those are the ones you need to look out for. There might be one or two down here patrolling, or there might not be any. We really don't know"  
They passed through the crowd of busy robots, and most of them moved out of the way, politely, almost apologetically. It was fairly clear why nobody had bothered to guard this area - it was difficult to imagine what harm could be done down here. Control booths and panels jutted out from the walls for such things as climate control, air conditioning, waste removal and water flow. Signs were posted everywhere warning that people without clearance shouldn't touch anything, but doing so would probably only create momentary chaos until the robots fixed the damage. There were closed doors leading to areas such as the power generation department and et cetera, which Sonic figured were probably surveilled or patrolled. There was a vast window to his left, and he saw a giant vat full of green muck being churned by giant machines, regulated by more busy drones.  
"Sewage," Slick told him, "They use it on the gardens, among other things. That's one reason that Robotnik's technology-state is such an easy sell. Everything gets recycled now. There's almost zero waste. Nobody thinks about the disadvantages to having robots control everything, as long as Robotnik's keeping the liberals happy with crap like this and throwing a bone to the conservatives with the ARK satellite defence project. It's almost funny, really. These mindless, mechanical lunkheads are actually soothing the political tension between the right and the left, and both wings are collapsing at Martin's feet"  
Sonic smiled and nodded. He had absolutely no idea what liberal and conservative meant, but he was sure that what Slick was saying was in some way insightful nevertheless.  
"We're here," Rockfall said. There was a vent in the wall, only just big enough for a mobian to fit through. The palace's ventilation system. They began to unscrew it. The engineer robots were indifferent to their meddling.

The parliament rose to their feet when the king entered, but neither of his children were present. Sally, it was later learned, had wished not to attend for unsaid reasons, and Martin was away on business matters (visiting a certain floating island, we can suppose). King Acorn himself, however, was the only presence required to begin the proceedings.  
Bunnie was not very interested in the political meeting, she focused her attention on the radio (Rockfall announced his team was opening the vent, and she gave a 'roger that'), but her ears pricked up partway through the floor discussion when somebody mentioned the existance of certain 'resistance factions' which, it had been learned, were propping up in the Great Forest outside the patrolling range of the SWAT-bots, and that they were quite probably planning a coup against the throne. Bunnie was unsure of whether or not they were referring to the Freedom Fighters, but if they were, they were certainly dangerously misinformed as to the group's actual intentions. It was eventually decided that the matter warranted watching, but it was no immediate threat.  
It wasn't long before Robotnik himself stood to address the parliament. He spoke about Project Mobitropolis, and its progress.  
"My friends, the time is almost upon us," he announced, "After ten long years of construction, Project Mobitropolis is nearly complete. I recieved confirmation yesterday that the final supply shuttle has docked successfully, and the engineers are assembling the final components according to schedule"  
There was an applause from the parliament.  
"Wonderful news, Dr Robotnik," the king said, "Tell me. What are the plans for next Monday regarding the satellite"  
"I'm glad you asked," Robotnik replied, "To show the citizens of Mobitropolis that ARK is completely benign, I intend to shuttle up there myself, and set the station into operation personally"  
Bunnie was now so interested in the speech that she almost forgot her duties. When she heard Rockfall announce that his team had reached Robotnik's office, she fumbled with the radio before giving the delayed 'roger that'. As soon as she had finished saying it, a heavy hand clamped around her wrist and pried the radio from her hand. Shocked, she turned to face Packbell, the Defense Minister.  
From his place, Robotnik smiled.

"Roger that," came Bunnie's crackling voice through the radio.  
"Why'd that take so long?" Slick asked, nervously.  
"I don't know," Rockfall replied, "It doesn't matter. She said it. If there was trouble, she would let us know. Let's get down there and get this done. Slick, strap up"  
The office was bland and devoid of decoration, the walls painted a tasteless and imposing battleship gray, the desk neat and featureless. While most mobians chose to personalise their private space to their own liking, and an office was therefore a good indication of its resident's personality, it nevertheless seemed almost like Robotnik had literally no personal taste whatsoever. His mind seemed almost like that of one of his machines - blank, efficient, colourless and plain. The only exception was a small trinket he kept beside his computer. It was a sno-globe, a round glass bauble full of water and glitter. It also contained a small, white object that was difficult to identify. It was a bone - a vertebra. The glitter swirled around it morbidly.  
With no sound apart from the almost inaudible rubbing of a vinyl strap against metal, Slick the weasil descended into the office from the opened vent above. Two sets of eyes watched from the darkness beyond, those of Sonic and Rockfall. With a frown, Slick realised that Robotnik's computer was facing away from him; he would have to either move around the desk or turn the computer itself. Not willing to leave any indication of meddling, he decided it would be the former. Looking at the closed door, his forehead began to dampen. Beyond that door were two robot guards with hypersensitive audio sensors.  
The dust in the vent almost made Sonic sniffle, or worse, sneeze. But fear stopped his body's functions. He didn't want to be the one who got everybody killed, not when he was already a somewhat unwelcome addition to the team. He and Rockfall kept a tight hold on the strap as it was fed into the office.  
Slick touched down softly and winced as the floor creaked a little. He froze, but no SWAT-bot army came bursting through the door. A needle could have dropped and the sound would have been deafening. He began to creep around the desk towards the computer, which was switched on, an uncreative screensaver drifting around the monitor screen. Slick paused at the sight of the vertebra sno-globe. What a bizarre and morbid decoration. It wasn't tacky at all, in fact the bone looked real and the globe was smooth and polished.  
The computer made a beeping sound when its keyboard was touched, and Slick winced again, hurriedly muting the speakers. "Here we go," he mouthed soundlessly. It was time to use the dozens of codes he had memorised. He began to type, slowly so as not to make a sound on the keyboard, identifying himself as Ivo Robotnik and using the minister's private password (it was 'LennardYates', the name of the mobian who formulated the relativity theory). For a terrible moment it dawned on him that Robotnik may have changed his password since the previous hacking attempt, and that the SWATs would burst through the door at any moment. But the computer was satisfied, and Slick was granted access to the deepest secrets of the Science Minister's impressive network.  
'Project Mobitropolis, Mother Hen Project', Slick mouthed the words as he read. The file was so interesting that he almost didn't notice that it was no longer silent. But notice he did, and he almost gasped in shock when he heard voices and footsteps approaching. Frantically he moved to escape somehow, but he knew in the back of his mind that this was it, he was going to be caught.  
The handle turned, and Andreas Packbell burst into the room.  
The office was empty.  
Packbell's eyes fleeted from one wall to the other. He marched over to the computer and grabbed the monitor, spinning it around to face him. A user login prompt was all that showed on the screen.  
The Defence Minister was flanked by two SWAT-bots. He turned to them now. "Watch this room," he said, "Watch the vent, the window, everything. Make sure nobody gets in"  
He left the office, and the robots remained behind, guarding the entrances.  
Heart racing furiously, body lubricated by profuse sweat, Slick really was slick as he raced back through the ventilation system, his straps dragging behind him and followed by Sonic and Rockfall. They worried that the robots might hear them scrambling through the steel vents, but they were not persued. Only when they emerged again in the engineering department did Slick have a chance to catch his breath.  
"Curses!" Rockfall exclaimed, and spat on the ground, "It was a trap! Robotnik knew we were coming"  
A cleaner drone approached them and began to clean up his spit from where it landed.  
"You're telling me," Slick rasped, "Great job pulling me back up so fast, I was sure I was done for"  
Rockfall narrowed his eyes. "Thank Sonic," he replied.  
Sonic shook his head and shrugged.  
"Man, you are quick," Slick said, "I'm running out of lives to owe you"  
"Did you get anything?" the armadillo asked.  
"Aw man, no!" Slick replied, "I mean, not enough. There's something big going on, really big, there's a whole mess of files about it. I think it's all going to hit the fan by the end of the week, Keth's right"  
Rockfall sighed and checked his watch. "Ten fifty. We have to get back." He spoke into his radio. "Bunnie, mission abort, I repeat, mission abort. Regroup at the rendezvous point at eleven-fifteen, that's over"  
"Hey wait a second, we can't just give up now!" Sonic protested, "We have to get those files, don't we"  
"Oh yeah, how? In an hour, Robotnik will be back, and he's got his office guarded. There's no way we're getting in there today"  
Sonic glanced around at the engineer robots, milling around, doing their respective jobs. "What about what Kethriel said?" he asked, "That's just one of four terminals. There's another one in the... the what? The machines factory"  
"That's on the other side of the palace, in a different building entirely." The armadillo spoke into his radio again, "Bunnie, confirm that please? Do you read, over"  
Slick looked highly concerned, "I'm with Sonic," he said, "We're running out of time, Rock. We might not have another day to waste on this thing. Robotnik was expecting us to break into his office, he might not forsee us going to the machines complex as well. He probably doesn't even know that we know he has a terminal there, it's not common knowledge"  
Now Rockfall was angry. He seemed to struggle to keep his voice down. "Look," he said, "Kethriel's orders were to regroup at eleven-hundred, whether it's a success or not. Robotnik knows we're here, there are probably SWAT-bots descending on us as we speak, and there's no way we can pull off an operation like that within an hour"  
"We can," Slick replied, "If we're quick."

The Palace was a roughly rectangular construction, encircling a large courtyard area in the centre. There was one entrance through the outer gates, but it was unguarded during the day because the front sections of the building were open to the public. Getting around the palace was a different story entirely. Families and tourists filled the museum and the public library, which were subsections of the southernmost rooms, and tried to catch a glimpse of officials and royals, although they rarely did. It had been pure luck that the regulators of the palace had neglected to guard the ventilation systems, but SWAT-bots were posted in front of every door that was refused to the general public. The parliament meeting hall and the private library were the two main no-go areas of the southern wing. Beyond the private royal courtyard, the large open section dividing the palace, was the highly guarded northern wing, the living quarters, the private dining halls and recreation centres of the royal family themselves. Also here was the strategic centre of top secret government projects, intelligence agencies and the hub of technological activities in the kingdom. Robotnik's labs were all here, as well as the so-called Iron Ward, the machines factory, the birthplace of the robots that were now a commonplace fact of life in the Kingdom of Acorn.  
A vent popped open under the storm-gutter around the rim of the palace roof, and a blue hedgehog poked his head out.  
"Hoo-whee, we're pretty high," he commented.  
"Hey let me see," Slick said from behind him. Sonic grunted and shifted position, but the vent wasn't wide enough.  
"I'll have to climb out." He turned around and grabbed a hold of the gutter, worried that it wasn't affixed very tightly and it might break off. The metal rim held his weight, though, and he scrambled onto the roof of the palace, through decoratory murder-holes and onto the stone surface. He turned and reached down to help Slick do the same.  
The ventilation system was divided into two parts, one for each wing, and so it was impossible to break into the north section through the vents. Nobody was entirely certain how security was arranged in the northern wing, so Sonic had figured that one possible way to circumvent it was to literally pass over it. Rockfall had been unimpressed with the plan, but agreed eventually to stand watch and man the radio as Sonic and Slick made their way to the machines factory.  
Now they almost forgot their duty as they observed the private royal garden from a great height. There was a lake in the middle, with ducks and swans, and great oaks stood surrounded by patches of roses, tulips and lilies, among other beautiful flowers and hedges. It was an inspiring sight, a beauty that Sonic couldn't remember having seen in all his life, certainly not on the streets of Mobitropolis. Slick began tugging on the hedgehog's arm, and he snapped out of it.  
"It's beautiful," the weasil said.  
"Yeah," Sonic replied, "Incredible"  
"Let's go. Are you ready"  
"Yeah"  
With no small difficulty, Slick found a way to scale Sonic's back. The hedgehog grunted at the weight, but he was strong and Slick was light. He held Slick's legs under his arms, and his passenger put his arms around the hedgehog's neck, like a very large child on the back of a very small father. When Slick had a good solid hold, he gave the nod, and Sonic took off running across the palace roof.  
If anybody had seen them from below, they would probably have blinked and wondered if they had really seen anything at all. A SWAT-bot was a different story - a robot knows exactly when it has seen something, for it has no imagination. But such a thing might believe that it simply spied a bird or a possum scurrying around up there. Sonic wasn't running as fast as he could with such an extra weight, but it was nevertheless a journey that was over in a manner of moments. It wasn't known whether they were seen, but there wasn't any outcry.  
Slick had to stifle a terrified scream. When they had stopped, he showed Sonic a number of small wounds and grazes that he had suffered as a result of the short trip. "You stabbed me," he muttered, "You're about as sharp as you are fast"  
He reported their position to Rockfall, and then they glanced down at the northern wing of the palace, a much quieter, more manicured and much more secure section of the palace, and a place that they most certainly should not be.  
Sonic had a slightly uneasy feeling that he attributed to this fact. Unlike many of his friends on the street, Sonic harboured very little ill will towards the monarchs of Mobitropolis, partly due to a guilty conscience he carried with the suspicion that he probably deserved his difficult life (why forget your past unless it's one too terrible to remember?) and partly because he believed it was passing the buck to blame the government for his hardships. Now, here he was, committing crimes against the palace that could lead him into worse trouble than he could imagine. It was true that he wasn't exactly straight as laces, being that he had until now made a living from working crowds and picking pockets. But that was petty thievery, and what he was doing now would be called espionage, perhaps even terrorism.  
Whatever else, Rat would probably be proud of him.  
His worry now was that he was being conned for his skills, that maybe he really was breaking a team of terrorists into the palace, and maybe all Slick really intended to do was assassinate the king and make Sonic take the fall for it.  
He thought back two days, thought back to the moment he had decided to help Slick escape the SWAT army. There had been nothing evil or rebellious about the weasil that day. Nothing but sheer fear and horror, a pitiful kind of... what? Not innocence. Maybe confusion. Like somebody who tried his best to help and was being persecuted for it. The mouse who pulled the thorn from the lion's paw and was eaten up afterward. Sonic trusted this ragtag group because they were all almost useless at what they did, not a determined posse of terrorist usurpers, but a fearful group of people who have heard something horrible and volunteered their limited skills to help fight it. All except Kethriel, he was a hardy and competant leader, he knew what he was doing. But even after knowing him such a short time, Sonic thought it unimaginable that Kethriel could even be capable of evil.  
He looked at Slick again, who looked back with impatience. He wasn't sure he wanted to commit any more felonies, but he would complete this mission. Its urgency was clear to him.  
"What are we waiting for?" Slick asked.  
"Nothing," Sonic replied, "Let's go."

Thanks to sheer luck, a window was open, saving them from having to attempt to open one. It was on the top floor of the palace, and Sonic peered in to make sure it was an empty room before helping Slick and himself climb inside. It was some kind of study, a textbook lay open on a polished pine desk. Sonic glanced at it as he sneaked past. It was a reference book about the Ridgewars.  
"Prince Martin's study," Slick whispered, "We should get out of here as soon as possible. Check the hallway"  
A patrol of SWAT-bots moved passed the door, and the intruders ducked out of the way. They then moved into the hall and quickly slipped through the nearest open door, into a large bathroom.  
"The good thing about the north wing is that there aren't a lot of people walking around," Slick explained, "Just the royal family and their private staff, mostly. A heck of a lot of SWATs, though. But they move always in predictable, repetitive patterns. They're not unpredictable like people are. We can get past them if we stick to our tactics. Come on, I know where we need to go"  
They made their way a fair distance through the palace, and had three near-encounters with SWAT patrols. They passed several large bathrooms, and saw one very ornate and comfortable looking bedroom that Sonic was told belonged to Princess Sally. Soon enough they reached a dark staircase, and Slick pulled Sonic aside into the shadows.  
"This is it," he said, "This is the most dangerous part. Keep on the lookout, and be ready to zoom outta here at a moment's notice. We're about to enter the belly of the beast"  
They called it the Iron Ward, and that was because it was where robots were 'born'. It had an almost mythical, legendary aura about it, being that it was somewhere that absolutely must have existed (robots aren't delivered by storks) but nobody had ever seen it and the nature of it could only be imagined. The legend ranged from the sane and rational to the dark fantasy of a riveted raw iron hospital where mindless android nurses pulled grinding, screaming infant SWAT-bots from the bellies of enormous black machines. The truth, as Sonic found when he descended into the darkness, was that it was nothing more than a dimly lit factory assembly line. A row of unpainted SWAT-bot torsos moved past them as they crossed the dusty floor, staying as close to the wall as possible. There were complete and very operational SWATs standing about, as well, and the intruders slipped past them with almost uncontrollable nervousness. Sonic was untrained for this, and the fear was cutting into him like a blade. Too much longer, and he feared he might blow the whole operation with his nerves.  
Soon enough, though, they came to a simple door with a foggy window, and with great stealth, Slick pulled it open and slipped inside. "Wait out here," he instructed, "Tap on the window if there's a problem"  
Sonic did as he was told, and there was no problem. He saw a SWAT patrol move past nearby, and one of the robots seemed to hesitate for a moment (Sonic nearly burst with fear, his heart beating a jungle rhythm on the underside of his ribcage) but did not investigate. After only ten minutes of waiting, Slick emerged as quietly as he had entered, a deeply troubled expression on his face.  
"What's wrong?" Sonic asked.  
"We're leaving"  
"Is there a problem"  
"No," Slick replied, "We're done"  
"Already"  
"I'm a very fast reader. Come on. Leaving"  
Slick's expression worried Sonic greatly, but they wordlessly left the Iron Ward behind them with its unnatural births.

Slick wanted to cut across the royal garden. Sonic had protested, but the guard was down on the southern side (the SWATs had probably been called away to search for intruders) and it seemed like the quickest way to escape the palace. The weasil seemed over-anxious to leave it all behind him and get back to Knothole.  
Sonic's folly was to hesitate a moment to take in the beauty of the place. The flowers were all in bloom, and it was truly a sight to behold. The ironic mistake of the fastest thing on Mobius was to be too slow. He saw Slick escape into the public areas of the north wing, and he took a moment to fully absorb the image. When he looked again, the doors were guarded by SWAT-bots.  
For a moment he was too stunned to move. Then he realised he was almost in plain sight, and in a panic, leaped into a flower garden, realising too late that they could be roses. They weren't, luckily.  
"Hey," somebody said. Sonic's heart caught in his throat. He knew that he was sprung. But robots don't say 'hey', and certainly not in a soft feminine voice. Unsure of how to respond, he didn't respond at all.  
There was a chuckle, not a girly giggle but a healthy and almost cultured laugh, before another "Hey"  
Sonic climbed out of the flower bush to face his opponent. He knew almost immediately who it was, and was both afraid and humbled. Princess Sally stood in the garden in a casual but tasteful dress suit, a fur coat draped across her narrow shoulders. She wore a cheeky, curious grin.  
"Are you lost?" she asked.  
"Uh," Sonic half-replied, "Uhhm, um"  
"I'm surprised you got past security," Sally said, and her tone betrayed a certain level of disgust at the reference.  
"Yeah," Sonic replied, stupidly.  
The princess folded her arms and looked out across the garden. "It's beautiful, isn't it." she commented.  
"Beautiful," Sonic agreed, "I've never seen anything... anything like it"  
"My father tells me that the whole kingdom was like this, not too long ago," Sally said, "I mean, there were places like this, all over. The robot age... it's just, sort of, dulled the whole place, you know? You and I, we have to hold onto places like this, because they'll be gone before too long." She looked sad, but then she turned to Sonic and smiled. She was beautiful, petite and shapely, and her smile was perfect. The very sight of it mellowed Sonic's fear, drained it away.  
"I'd do the polite thing and give you the private tour," she said, "But I'd get in all manner of trouble. You would think, being royalty, that I could do anything I wanted, wouldn't you? The truth is, my leash is shorter than anybody else's in all of Mobitropolis. Think yourself lucky"  
"It's okay, I think I've seen enough of the palace for one day," Sonic said, grimly.  
"Well, you certainly can't stay here, that's for sure," she replied, "Somebody would pitch a fit. Commoners in the royal garden? It's a right outrage, it is. Although nobody who says that is actually royal. Well, maybe my brother. If my father and I were really free to decide, we'd both invite you for coffee." She snickered at the irony of it. "I'll get you past the guards. I can't follow you into the public area, though, or I'll be swamped by photographers"  
"Thanks, uh, uhhm, Your Majesty," Sonic replied, and he didn't know what the proper formality was, so he used the generic one. Sally shook her head and waved it away like the words were an annoying insect. "Don't give me any of that," she said, "I'm glad to have the company. Just don't go spreading it around, or we'll have all sorts of trouble around here"  
The SWAT-bots lowered their weapons at the princess' approach, and Sonic was able to move safely through the doors, casting one last smile back at the strangely forlorn princess and her beautiful, rare garden.

The Freedom Fighters looked relieved when Sonic reached the rendezvous, but not entirely. Something was wrong. With a sinking feeling, Sonic thought he knew what it was, as they counted their members.  
"Thought we'd lost ya," Slick said, but he probably hadn't been truly that concerned. Kethriel gave an acknowledging smile, and Rockfall barely grunted.  
"What's up?" Sonic asked.  
"There's a problem," Kethriel replied, "We've lost Bunnie"  
"Radio silence ever since the heat came down on us in Robotnik's office," Rockfall added, "Not a peep"  
"She's been caught"  
"Probably," Kethriel said, "We can't be sure right now. At this point we need to just return to Knothole and think things over"  
The clock ticked over to midday. They had made it back in time, with minutes to spare.

In Knothole, tucked away within the Great Forest, spirits were fairly low. Sonic had mistaken it for disappointment aimed towards himself. He wasn't trained in chain of command, and he and Slick had basically contradicted Kethriel's orders in going to the Iron Ward for another shot at the computer network. About the last thing he wanted to do was disappoint Kethriel, who had been so sure of Sonic's ability and potential.  
"You did good, buddy," Kethriel assured him later, after nightfall, when he had invited the blue hedehog to his hut for a cup of bitter, cheap coffee. "Very good, in fact. Excellent. You knew your abilities and you acted accordingly. You saw a shot and you went for it. That's why I sent you along on the mission, you did just what I hoped you would. Ordinarily, you'd all be crowd-surfing by now. Only reason you're not is because we're not entirely sure it's worth anything"  
"We got the information," Sonic noted.  
"Yeah, but the question now is whether Robotnik might change his strategy entirely. He obviously knew what we were going to do, and we almost marched three of our elite agents right into an iron trap. They managed to snare one, Bunnie, and we're all worrying ourselves sick about her as well. We could get her out if she was in a jail cell on spying charges, but it's more likely she's being interrogated by the prince, privately. There's no telling what kind of torture she might go through." He looked down at his mug for a moment, sadly contemplating something. "She has more honour in her pinky finger than everyone else in this camp combined. She'll never speak a word about Knothole, about us. Not that I prefer her torture. If I thought it would help, I'd give her permission to spill her guts out"  
"I'm really sorry, Kethriel," Sonic said.  
"Hm? Oh! Gosh Sonic, it wasn't your fault," he replied, "Like I said, you did great. You salvaged the mission, in fact. I'd give you a medal, but we don't have any. Look, our leader is coming down to Knothole tonight to confer with us, Slick is going to tell us all what he found out, and I'd like you to be there. I'd like you to meet our leader, Sonic, I think you're ready and so do the others. You're one of the group, now, provided you want to stick with us. Besides, I just want to see the look on your face"  
"The look on my face"  
Kethriel winked. "Can't say too much. Go back to your hut, have a shower if you like. I'll call you over when it's time."

Sonic was surprised to find that his hut, formerly a tumbledown mess of leaves and branches, had now been upgraded. Or, at least it was better than it was, though none of the constructions in Knothole were either stable or homely. It was now more solid, partially furnished, and there was a bush shower attached, just a bag of water with holes in the top that could be turned over. He did so, washing away the day in a torrent of cold water.  
A couple of hours later, Kethriel collected him and they walked through the forest a little ways, to a large and dimly lit tent in the foliage. Inside, were Rockfall, Slick and Rotor, who greeted him enthusiastically.  
It wasn't long before another figure, heavily cloaked in dark rags, was brought inside by two burly assistants. Kethriel smiled at Sonic, as if to reiterate that Sonic was going to be shocked out of his shoes by the answer to this mystery. Indeed, it was a powerful suspense, and he expected just about anything. However, when the leader pulled off a layer of darkness to reveal a face that was powerfully familiar, Sonic realised that he really wasn't too shocked at all to learn that the leader of the Freedom Fighters was actually Princess Sally Acorn. In fact, it made an easy kind of logical sense. And when she smiled at him, he supposed that Sally wasn't too shocked to see him there, either.


	4. Emerald Hill

PROJECT MOBITROPOLIS  
S Peter Davis 

All characters (C) SEGA, Archie and SP Davis 2004.  
Used without permission

* * *

EMERALD HILL

A bare, gray-walled room without so much as a window to let in the breeze, and she was inside for a number of hours before anything happened. It would drive a person crazy to stay in here for any length of time, she figured. It was an asylum, but not one that helped the insane, one that created them.  
Finally the one door opened. There was a squeaking sound, as if the hinges needed greasing, and the sound was almost deafening to her. It was a familiar shape that filled the doorway and blocked the light from behind. Something bright was outside, silhouetting the figure, but she knew who it was from that shape. The door closed, and once again the only light was from a very dim fluorescent tube.  
"Bunnie Rabbit," said Robotnik, and he pulled up a chair as he scoffed and dropped a notebook on the metal table in front of him. "What an imaginative name. Your parents must have needed help thinking that one up"  
She hadn't planned on even saying a word, but that one took her by surprise. Narrowing her eyes in shock and interest, she asked, "How did you know"  
Robotnik reclined in mock surprise. "Oh, that impressed you?" he asked, "But, but, I haven't even started on the interesting part yet! You grew up on the continent of Southasia, your parents divorced and you moved here on your own when you were sixteen. You work as a tour operator through the Palace, that's presumably how you managed to sneak into parliament. Your first boyfriend's name was Tex Travis, a dingo, but you lost contact when you moved, although you still have feelings of regret about leaving him and sometimes think about going back. Your hobbies include collecting glass bottles, pencil sketching, and high treason. You have one filling, your tonsils have been removed, you are allergic to three specific kinds of pollen, should I list them for you? You don't drink except that you are partial to red wine, your favourite eyeliner is Blue-64, but they only make that in one brand. You take your coffee with two lumps and no milk"  
Bunnie closed her eyes and rested her head in her hand.  
"I know what you're wondering," Robotnik continued, "You're wondering how much I know about your friends, if I know so much about you. The answer is that I know everything about them. Everything, except their names"  
Robotnik's eyes were invisible beneath their thick layer of glass, as the light shined from them and made them into headlights, shining into the very heart of her. Bunnie shifted uncomfortably as the professor continued.  
"What I have created is the future," he said, "It is the unstoppable power of progress. Before I came along, you people had no idea what power you could possess. In ten years, just ten short years, I have fully industrialised your stone age society, and still you fight me, doubting my ability. My database has every facet of your life logged and categorised, every mobian in this entire kingdom is the same. There are massive amounts of data at my very fingertips. I know your tastes from the things you purchase. I know your health every time you see a doctor. I know about the life you left behind from a quick scan of the outgoing mail from the city. I know you from your fingerprints, as well. If you've ever touched a metallic object in your life, that's all I need to be able to author a full biography of you, and my book would be more accurate than if you had written it yourself. That is my power, Bunnie, that is what you are trying to fight against with your cheap radios and primitive gadgetry"  
She said nothing. She only listened, with a lump in her throat that seemed to be growing, threatening to cut off her ability to breathe.  
"I know about your group," Robotnik said, "I know what you're doing, I even know what you call yourselves. 'Freedom Fighters', right? Freedom from tyranny, freedom from greed, aid for the helpless and people in need. That's your motto, isn't it? I know you have at least one mole in the Palace. It will only be a matter of time before I know where you base yourselves and the names of your members. Of course, I would like to know sooner. That's where you might be able to help me, as a matter of fact"  
"You might want to boil some coffee then," Bunnie replied, "Because you're in for a long wait"  
Robotnik smiled. "Oh what, you thought I was going to interrogate you? Torture you? What do you think I am, a barbarian? I merely brought you here so we could have a little fun. I do, after all, have a few experiments I've been dying to try out on a live mobian subject. If a few secrets should be spilled through the course of our adventure together, then so be it. Two birds and one stone, I suppose"  
The professor reached into his pocket and pulled something out. He placed it on the table in clear view. It was small and lightweight, like a cheap toy. Bunnie was unsure what it was, at first, but it looked a bit like a silicon computer chip, standing on six small prongs. Bunnie didn't want to appear interested, as that was probably exactly what Robotnik wanted, but she couldn't help herself. It was such an odd little thing. After a moment the answer dawned on her. It was a beetle, a cockroach or something similar. But it had been petrified somehow, and it no longer held its original shape, not exactly. It had been covered in metal, not dipped, but clad, as if it was wearing a very small suit of chain mail, except it was fused with its body, perhaps it even replaced it. Either somebody had made a tiny robot to look like a beetle, or.  
"Come on," Robotnik said, "Let's have some fun."

Princess Sally Acorn hugged all of the Freedom Fighters as very close friends do, but it was Kethriel who she embraced with a certain passion, a dear companion who has been away too long. Sonic found himself wondering if it was a lovers' embrace. Soon enough she approached him and, less affectionately but no less friendly, shook his hand and flashed that intoxicating smile. "I had a feeling," she said, "That we would meet again soon enough. You didn't really look lost this morning"  
"No, I was," Sonic replied, "I think I've been lost all my life"  
That night, the Freedom Fighters and their unusual leader sat down to discuss matters. It was straight to business with little room for casual discussion, and everybody was anxious to hear what Slick had to say. A very worried expression was written on his face, and it hadn't gone away for hardly a moment since they had left the Iron Ward. The weasil stood before them now, alongside Kethriel, who spoke first.  
"Okay, first things first, I guess. Sal, you probably haven't heard yet, but I'm afraid Bunnie didn't return from the Palace today. We lost radio contact with her sometime before eleven, she was our visual contact in the parliament conference"  
"Oh my..." Sally was lost for words for a moment, "I haven't heard anything about a prisoner or a spy, my brother must be holding her personally. I don't know where... I don't know where she would be. I'll keep one ear to the ground"  
"Hopefully we can have her out as soon as possible, I doubt she would be harmed too much yet, not with all of this vital information about us in her head. I've always told you all that capture is worse news than death, but I trust Bunnie with secrets much more than anybody, even myself. She has an iron will. And if there's one favourable outcome, and God forbid we think of her capture as a good thing, but in times like these we need to take things as they come... there's a chance that the prince doesn't know that we know anything. It's obvious that he was expecting a mission today, but he didn't find one. All he found was our spy, and if we're lucky, he will be content with that. Thanks to some quick thinking by our team today, the information retrieval wasn't witnessed by a single person or SWAT in the whole palace. That is, nobody except you, Sal"  
"That's right," Sally grinned, "You guys are in big trouble now. I'm telling on you"  
There was uneasy laughter among the congregation.  
"I'll let Slick talk to you about what he found today," Kethriel continued, "This is the real thing, it's what we've been trying to get our hands on ever since we formed this group. It's close to the end now, guys, one way or another." He handed the meeting over to Slick, who cleared his throat nervously.  
"Well, to put it one way, I found out a lot, but I didn't really find out anything. Robotnik is clever with his files, even on his private network the whole plan is written out in a language that only he and the prince and whoever else can understand. It's almost set out like a fairy story." He cleared his throat again. "Basically I found out about something he's calling the 'Mother Hen Project'. The Mother Hen, I'm quite sure, is a reference to the ARK colony. Throughout these files, there was a lot of talk about an 'egg"  
"The only egg I know about is Robotnik," Rockfall said, and he chuckled at his own joke.  
Slick continued, "You know how we figured Robotnik was installing some kind of weapon onto the ARK? Well, as it turns out, I think that's not too far from the truth. Something that really startled me was when I found some documents that stated that construction on the ARK was actually completed about six years ago"  
"Wait, that doesn't make any sense," Rotor chimed in, "Mobitropolis has been sending materials up there at a steady rate for the past decade. Where have they been going, if there's nothing left to build"  
"Oh but there is," Slick replied, "You see, this is the reason that Robotnik put such emphasis on having robots build the ARK. His excuse was cutting costs, but there's also the convenient fact that he can tell robots to build literally anything, and nobody has to know what's going on up there. All anybody knows is that there are materials being sent into space and they're being converted into something. Robotnik vastly, vastly overquoted the actual size of the finished ARK colony. So he's been allocated materials to build something that's at least three times bigger than what was actually built. That means that whatever's left over afterwards is his for free, and nobody's asking questions because the only people in the position to ask questions have been replaced by subserviant tin cans. I found a schematic diagram of the ARK, and Robotnik has cut corners everywhere. It's just a big hollow expensive bucket floating around out there. As far as shape is concerned, it's much more similar to an orbital docking platform of some kind than a space colony"  
"So what's he actually been building?" Rotor asked.  
Slick just shook his head. "I couldn't find out. That knowledge is too well protected. What I do know is that it's been at least six years in the making, and now it's pretty much complete. Apparently the clock is ticking down. By the end of the week, evidently, the Mother Hen is going to lay an Egg, and by then we can probably pack up and move north because I doubt we can stop this thing once it's geared up"  
"So it's just as I feared," Sally said, "We really don't know anything useful, anything that can help us stop this"  
"Hey, I didn't say that," Slick said, "I haven't even gotten to the interesting part yet. There seems to be one flaw in the plan, one thorn that's been in Robotnik's side since the very beginning of this so-called Mother Hen project. It turns out that this weapon, whatever it is, is so huge and sucks up so much juice, that he's been having a heck of a time figuring out how to power it. It seems conventional fuels just aren't enough. You'll never guess the solution he came up with. Have you ever heard of the Chaos Emeralds"  
"Sure," Sally replied, "It's a kids' story. The ancient echidnas had to ward off an enormous monster, so they forged these seven magic jewels and used them to destroy it"  
"That's the story," Slick said, "Except it's apparently more than just a story, being that Prince Martin has dug up at least five of them"  
There was a pregnant silence in the room for a few moments. Sonic's eyes darted confusedly from one Freedom Fighter to another. It was Rockfall who responded first, and he did so with a loud, barking laugh.  
"The Chaos bleedin' Emeralds!" he said, "Now you're just falling for cheap trickery. There's no such thing as magic emeralds, that I know for sure"  
"They're not necessarily magical," Slick explained, "Just powerful. Very powerful. I don't know the science behind it. But all of those mines that the prince opened up to gather minerals for the space colony? It seems they've been mining in some very specific locations. It seems like they're looking for more than just minerals"  
"So many cover operations," Rotor commented, "Layers and layers of intregue. Good grief, no wonder nobody has figured this out yet. Martin has a cover for everything, this whole thing is sealed up tighter than a drum of plutonium"  
"The Chaos Emeralds," said Sally, "How can we use this to our advantage"  
Slick scratched his head. "Well, I figure our best shot, or really our only shot, is to collect these seven emeralds ourselves and hold them, somewhere safe. One thing I did manage to find out is the exact locations of the five that have already been dug up. These are unthinkably valuable relics, so they're not all in one place. Robotnik has five secure industrial facilities across the continent that he's using to store one emerald apiece. We might just be able to raid them and retrieve the stones ourselves... as long as we realise, this kind of operation would make today's run look like breaking into an empty house with no doors. I don't even know what kind of protection the prince has on these things"  
All eyes turned to Sally, a gesture of respect for her authority over the group. A few of the Freedom Fighters looked as if they wanted to bow down. Rebel fighter or not, she was still a princess, and she was in the presence of patriots of the highest order.  
"I guess we should go for it," she said, "We're running out of options. If this is going ahead by the end of the week... well, it's Sunday now. We may have, at most, seven days to organise all of this and make it happen. I know you're all tired, but every minute counts from now on. I say we boil some coffee and get to work on this right away"  
The others mumbled in agreement, and suddenly nobody was seated anymore, apart from Sonic. Everybody was moving furniture around and getting to work. Sally approached the blue hedgehog and kneeled before him. "Hey," she said, "That was some great work you pulled off for us today. I'm very happy to have you aboard, we can use your talent"  
"Uh," Sonic shifted a little uncomfortably, "Thanks. I mean, no problem"  
Sally nodded. "You must be tired now, though. We're just going to be working on this problem tonight, it might take all night until morning, you wouldn't find it very interesting, I don't think. I mean, some really top secret stuff, just us management types, you understand"  
"Oh, sure!" Sonic replied, "I understand, no prob. I'll, uh, get out of your way"  
"The villagers are celebrating a job well done, I believe. You should feel free to kick back, make yourself at home, you deserve it"  
"Thanks," Sonic replied, "I think I will."

There was a large open campfire in the village of Knothole that night, and people were dancing to music and chatting casually, not a roaring party so much as a social gathering. Sonic could see drinks on tap, soft drinks and alcohol, and he could even smell the unmistakable odour of an illicit substance called malcohol, or 'mega mack', which smelled and tasted like whisky but with a much more coppery and sharp undertaste that assaulted the tip of the tongue and the olfactory senses like hot metal. Unlike alcohol, malcohol was a stimulant and not a sedative, so it would make a person drunk but not sleepy or slurred, and it had no dehydrating effect so there was no hangover either. Mega mack was illegal in Mobitropolis, as it dulled the reflexes while making people hyperactive as well (thus leading to some very violent pub brawls), but it was freely accessable in some other cities beyond the borders of the kingdom, such as Station Square's popular Casinopolis district. This was probably from where the villagers had smuggled their supply. Rat had been a big fan of the stuff, Sonic had tried it but it had too much of a bite for his tastes.  
Amy Rosethorne was sitting nearby with a drink in hand, not acting particularly sociable, and approached Sonic when she saw him.  
"Hi-ho," she said, "I was wondering where you might be hiding. I heard that you had a good day. Been talking to my brother"  
"Yeah," he replied, "Well, they're all busy now. They're talking with the prin- uh, the leader." He wasn't sure if Amy knew who the leader was. She just smiled and chuckled. "It's okay, I know the big secret," she said, "That is to say that I'm not really supposed to, but it's a foolish mobian who ever suggests that Amy Rose can't figure out a mystery"  
"Well I'm not really surprised," Sonic said, "You and Kethriel, you seem pretty close"  
Amy seemed uneasy. She took a drink and looked a little absent. "We're not really," she replied, "I mean, Keth and I... we're different people. He's more optimistic than I am. We don't get along as well as you might think"  
"You don't think the Freedom Fighters will be able to stop the prince?" Sonic asked. A few nearby people looked at him with concerned surprise, and Amy led him to a slightly more secluded area. "No, no, it's not like that," she insisted, "It's just that Keth sees so much that I just don't. He believes everybody has a special place in the world, like we all have this shining light inside us that we have to follow, and every mobian is sacred"  
"But you don't see that"  
Amy sighed and pointed to the sky. The stars were clearly visible from the break in the forest canopy. The constellations glittered as though they were celebrating also.  
"It's a big universe out there," she said, "Look at all those stars. There are more stars up there, than there are grains of sand on all of the beaches on Mobius. We're not even a speck. I have trouble seeing any importance at all. I mean, look at Prince Martin. What's his special place in the world? What's his destiny? To kill everybody? Look at that awful Science Minister. No shining light inside him, just greed and ugliness"  
Sonic nodded, and cracked an obscure grin. "Plenty of bacon, though"  
"Huh"  
"Robotnik, I mean... plenty of bacon inside him. And eggs"  
Amy cocked her head to the side, slightly. Sonic, his face silhouetted in the darkness, was smiling. "Well now," she said, "Was that a joke, mister hedgehog"  
"Maybe," he replied.  
"Fancy that. Looks like there's quite a wise guy under that shy, modest facade"  
Sonic's smile faded, and the two hedgehogs sat wordlessly under the watchful quarter-moon.

It was nearing midnight and Sonic was lying awake in his comfortable new bed. The party had dispersed outside, but there was still activity amidst the dim, orange flickering light. A shadow approached the hut, and the cloth that served as a door parted to reveal a familiar shape at the doorway. Kethriel's spines ruffled against the wall as he peered inside to see if Sonic was asleep.  
"I'm awake," the blue hedgehog said.  
"Hey," Kethriel replied, "Trouble sleeping? Is your bed okay"  
"That's just the problem. It's soft, warm and flat. There's no apple cores or broken glass, no used tissues and leftover stew and chicken bones. No garbage at all. I've never been less comfortable in my life"  
The other hedgehog laughed. "Not that you remember, anyway, right"  
"That's right." Sonic smiled.  
Kethriel entered the hut and sat beside Sonic's bed. Somebody outside laughed loudly at some unheard joke, and the fire crackled like a distant gunshot.  
"There's big things going on," Kethriel said, "Big things"  
"Yeah, no kidding"  
"Bet I shocked you when you met our leader," Kethriel had a smug half-grin.  
"Not really," Sonic replied, also smug, "You overdid it. She was the only person who could possibly have lived up to your hype, short of the king himself"  
They shared a quiet laugh, which faded to a few moments of comfortable silence. Kethriel shifted position and sighed. "She's a great person to have on our side. The best we could hope for. I'm a mentor for many of the people here, but she was mine"  
Sonic began to ask a question before he had truly thought about asking it, and became embarrassed for it. "Are you and her... I mean, the two of you... you know... together"  
Kethriel seemed to run the question through his mind for a moment, then smiled. "Is it that obvious"  
Sonic shook his head. "Not obvious, I'm not sure why it occurred to me"  
The other hedgehog nodded. "It's true, she's more than just a mentor. I look at her and I see as much beauty and wonder as I can see in all of nature. To tell you the truth, I think I loved her before I even knew her, but I've known her for quite a while. I was her personal assistant in the palace. Her closest friend, she says. We used to talk as if there wasn't a barrier of social heirachy between us. That was how we began this group, I was the first person she told about her brother's plans. But our friendship... it doesn't change the facts, you know. To answer your question, no, I never told her how I feel. A princess is a princess is a princess, and a princess can't go around romancing some hedgehog. I know that, and I deal with it"  
"Nothing wrong with hedgehogs," Sonic quietly protested.  
"Darn right, bucko," Kethriel replied.  
"I think she likes you"  
"You think so, huh"  
Sonic nodded his head. Kethriel just smiled and looked at the ceiling. The fire crackled again.  
"That's what we're fighting for, though, Sonic. It sounds cheesy but it's true. Love, freedom, beauty... love... they can try to take that away from us, to beat us into submission, but I like to believe there's no force greater than a group of people dedicated to the good fight. Good people with a good attitude. I don't know the King personally, but Sal speaks about him with all the love of... well, she speaks about him just the same as I speak about her. He's been one of our greatest leaders, and God willing he'll be our leader for many years yet. When his time finally comes, then Sally will be Queen, and I have a feeling she'll do just fine. That's the future I envision for the next generation"  
"You're really passionate about this stuff, huh." Sonic commented.  
Kethriel nodded. "Actually, Sonic... I admit I've been preaching a bit to you. I mean, I have a motive for coming here tonight. I was hoping that after what you've seen and heard recently, you might be willing to help us even more than you already have. Actually much more"  
Sonic sat up on one elbow and furrowed his brow. "Well, yeah," he replied, "You guys put a roof over my head and helped me remember who I am. And after what you've told me... I have friends in Mobitropolis. Friends on the street. I don't want them to get hurt in the way you think they will"  
"Of course not." Kethriel smiled warmly. "We're all getting rather desperate. Nobody wants to lose what we've fought for all of this time. That's got a lot to do with what I'm going to ask you to do for us"  
The blue hedgehog began to look concerned. He saw the desperation in Kethriel's eyes, and began to worry that he was about to be asked something bigger than he had anticipated.  
"This doesn't come from the Freedom Fighters," Kethriel went on, "This comes straight from Sally and I, we haven't discussed this with anybody else, and it's the first time I've ever gone behind the council's back on anything. They didn't like me sending you with them on that recon mission, and I'm sure that they would think this out of the question. But I truly do feel in my heart of hearts that you came to us for this very reason. The fact is, Sonic, that it really is beyond our power to organize a strike force to retrieve these emeralds in a week, not without being caught. The Freedom Fighters think that this information, about these stones, is a heaven-sent ticket to victory, but we must be realistic, and the reality is that we would have to be tactical geniuses to pull off a stunt like this. That is, unless there is another way"  
"Another way," Sonic repeated. Kethriel nodded and leaned closer to him. "One mobian, a single individual, if he exercised enough stealth and speed, might be able to make it to all of the emerald facilities in a week. We need a thief in the night. Not an army to take the emeralds by force, but a burglar to slip them away"  
"I have a feeling I know which mobian you have in mind," Sonic replied, his face blank and heavy with realisation.  
"I want you to know," Kethriel said, "That there is no pressure here. I do not push people around, give orders, hold myself above you"  
"No pressure," Sonic replied, "Just the fate of a million lives"  
"Just the fate of a million lives," Kethriel confirmed, and smiled. It seemed as though that was the most difficult smile he'd ever attempted, but that was who he was. A meaty silence hung over the room, even the sounds outside had subsided, and Sonic lay back down on his soft bed.  
"Can I sleep on it?" he asked.  
"Sure. It's not an easy decision, I'll give you that. But you would have to slip out of here early, on the sly. I still don't know what I'm going to tell Slick, Rotor and Rockfall about this, but if they knew what I asked of you, they'd probably ship me off to the loony bin. Maybe they would be right to"  
Kethriel stood and moved towards the moonlight. "Either way, we may have already lost this fight if not for you. I'm very glad to have met you, Sonic. Very glad."

"Sonic"  
He heard his name called, and yet he could not turn around. It was the world of his dreams again, and in a strange lucid way he knew it, but could not take control. His body was numb, the feeling absent from his erect and spine-like fingers, as if all the blood had drained from his body and had been replaced with concrete. His name was Sonic, but what kind of a name was that? It wasn't a name, it was a nickname, short for something meaningful, something specific and-  
Sitting, now. Sitting but uncomfortable. Something was attached to his head, cables brushing his shoulders, he couldn't move, he wanted-  
Now he was running. Running like the wind. There was such pain, such unbelievable intense pain driving him forward, he had to escape the pain so he ran until his lungs felt as if they were going to burst out of his chest.  
He ran, and yet he didn't move, not one inch. Snakes coiled around his throat.

Knuckles was out of place, seated in the finest resteraunt in all of Mobitropolis, a yuppie paradise known as Le Chanet de Mobius. A single candle burned down to a stump before him on a clean white tablecloth. He shifted uncomfortably and watched the activity around him. Business people and high-rollers sipped puddles of wine from huge glasses and ate tiny meals with at least seven different kinds of fork. Nothing looked particularly appetising. With a growing embarrassment he seriously considered leaving.  
At this moment a well clad vulture approached his table from behind, and moved into sight, grinning like a teenager might before meeting his favourite celebrity.  
"Knuckles?" he asked, "Don't tell me you're some other echidna, because as far as anybody can tell you're the only one." Knuckles could not place the stranger's accent, it was clear but exotic.  
"You're the guy who wanted to meet me here?" he asked, "I was about to leave"  
"Yeah sorry about that. Still, it's fashionable to be late, what? My name is Carrion. Rhes el Carrion, very excited to meet you indeed. Having a good time, are you"  
"Not really, no," Knuckles replied, "And I hope you realise, I don't have any money"  
"Really?" Carrion asked, "That's interesting. Because I do, I have lots. So don't worry about this, it's all on the house. My shout and all that." He lit a cigarette with the candle flame and then chuffed away at it, to the obvious discomfort of the other patrons.  
"So who are you, exactly?" Knuckles asked.  
Rhes el Carrion smiled and leaned back on his chair. "I'm part archeologist," he replied, "Linguist, too. Also an analysist of really old junk. They travelled halfway across the world to give me this job, apparently I really am that good, which is quite flattering and not something I'm ready to deny, either"  
"The Chaos Emeralds," Knuckles commented.  
"That's what I'm here for," Carrion replied, "Those rocks certainly are important to somebody. Quite important to you, as well, or so I hear. I've been head of this project since it began, half a decade ago, and now they're telling me I have to wrap it up. Found five emeralds in as many years, I did, and now they're saying I've gotta step it up, find two more in less than a week. That's where you come in, my friend. We can do it, but we've gotta know exactly where to dig, get it right the first time, and that's what we need you for. All these robots will do the rest. Hey garcon"  
A waiter, passing by, turned and approached their table with a tray of drinks, three glasses of sparkling chardonnay. He leaned down slightly to hear what the vulture had to say. Instead of saying anything, however, Carrion merely dropped his lit cigarette into one of the glasses. It hissed and darkened in the bubbling liquid. "How's about an ashtray over here?" he asked.  
"Uno momento," the waiter replied glumly, and shuffled away.  
"These freaks eat out of my hand," Carrion commented, "Because I tip better than anyone this side of the Mobian equator"  
Knuckles looked around uncomfortably. This wasn't his scene, and his host was embarrassing him. "Why did you want to see me?" he asked.  
"Hey, I figured we should get to know each other a little if we're going to be working together on this," Carrion replied, "I have to admit an alterior motive, though. I'm just so fascinated to meet the last full-blood echidna on Mobius. The fact that you're on the team is so hush-hush, because if the science community knew what you were they'd have a field day. You're a historian's dream, Knuckles, a real live aboriginal. I've spent half my life researching your people's legends and religions, and now that I've met you I'd sell my soul to you for a story"  
"A story?" Knuckles asked.  
"Yeah. These artifacts, these Chaos Emeralds. I'd love to hear the legend from your own lips"  
Knuckles sighed. The sooner he gave this arrogant bird what he asked for, the sooner he could leave.  
"What you have to understand," he began, "Is that my ancestors attributed everything that happened in the world to the will of two warring entities. The god of life, Za'ren-Ki-La-Do, and the god of destruction, Ren-Xnao. 'Ren-Xnao' translates literally into 'Chaos'. You see, my ancestors knew a bit about thermodynamics, they knew that an ordered system always erodes into chaos if it's unkept. Za'ren-Ki-La-Do was the manifestation of order itself, responsible for the machinations of life, fate and the solid laws of the universe. What goes up will always come down as long as Za'ren-Ki-La-Do willed it so. But ordered things were always tempted away from order by Ren-Xnao, and so there was a struggle in every system and inside every echidna to resist the forces of chaos. Ren-Xnao became a dark being, a tempter, like the Devil. Za'ren-Ki-La-Do was often represented as a rock or a crystal with an all-seeing eye, solid and unchanging, while Ren-Xnao was represented by water, always moving and never keeping a shape. Sometimes he's a dragon, spewing water instead of fire.  
"As legend has it, Ren-Xnao became so disgusted with life and order that he came down from the heavens one time in a mighty rage, determined to wipe all life off Mobius. In response, the god of life commanded that my ancestors stop his rampage, and he sent down seven small chunks of his own body, seven stones made of pure order, to help them fight. My ancestors used the stones to completely absorb Ren-Xnao and contain his wrath, but consequently, the monster's chaos saturated the order of the stones like water into a sponge and they, themselves, became chaotic. It was feared that they were dangerous, and so they were buried away from echidna society and, more importantly, away from each other"  
"Fascinating," Carrion replied, "And do you believe all of this? About gods and monsters fighting wars on Mobius"  
"I believe lots of things," Knuckles replied confidently, "If you're asking whether I believe there's more to the world than what we can see and touch, then the answer is yes, I do. That cities and kingdoms, robots and technology are not necessarily the elements of progress, I believe that too. I believe whatever is necessary for me to believe, in order to do my job as best I can"  
"Naturally," the vulture said, "But isn't it dangerous, what you're doing now? I mean, if your people buried the Chaos Emeralds to keep them hidden, aren't you tempting fate by digging them up again"  
Knuckles sighed and looked around the resteraunt. "My people have entrusted me with certain responsibilities," he said, "I have to make decisions that I believe my ancestors would have made, so that everything is the way it should be when they return. I've been waiting all my life to hear word about the emeralds. My people hid them for a time, but they're not safe in the modern world. It's only a matter of time before somebody digs them up. I just want to be there when it happens. The Chaos Emeralds won't end up in anyone's hands but mine."

The hills looked like emeralds themselves in the early morning light. The sunlight rolled over the barely obscured half-disc horizon to the east and flooded over hills with such a green that it almost hurt Sonic's eyes, but he couldn't look away because it was a more beautiful sight than anything else that he could remember seeing. Looking over this emerald hill, Sonic couldn't help wondering what else in this wide world was as beautiful.  
It wasn't the first time Sonic had a sweet tooth for adventure, but it was the first time he'd had an oppertunity to do anything about it. When he awoke, a backpack had been left just outside his hut, and inside it he found supplies enough for a week or so, or two with careful rationing, as well as a tied burgundy silk bag of unknown contents, a map, some assorted travelling necessities and a note from Kethriel. He had read it before looking through the pack.

Sonic,

Whatever your choice is on the matter we discussed last night, we will not see each other again for a while. If your answer is no, leave the pack where it is and you are free to go - after all you've done for us already, I can't ask you to have anything more to do with us if you don't want to. I will see that you have made your choice and I will thoroughly understand. We will find another way.  
If you agree, however, there is much you need to know. We know which five facilities contain the emeralds, and two are not far from here. The closest is in the city of Station Square to the north, somewhere inside the Acornex chemical plant, one of Prince Martin's investments. We're not sure where in particular. The next is to the east of that, in a facility outside an ancient ruin. It's usually off limits to the public, you may have some trouble getting in. Beyond that, there is another industrial complex of some kind in the mountains even further east (don't worry, I've given you a map), another in an off-shore oil rig, and another in a robotics facility far to the north. I'm sorry that we cannot provide you any more information, I've told everything we know ourselves. All I can say is, if you take this pack, you have my greatest gratitude and that of the entire Freedom Fighter movement. I won't even wish you good luck, because I wouldn't have asked this of you if I thought you needed it. Our hopes and prayers are with you.

P.S. Inside the pack you will find a silk bag. My request is that you do not open it, even to peek inside, until the time comes to do so. You will know when the time is right. Whatever you do, try not to lose it before you need it.

Kethriel

Sonic had considered leaving the pack and heading back to Mobitropolis, back to whatever friends and lifestyle he still had, but something called to him. A lust to see more of the world. The emerald hills had clinched it. Perhaps, he thought, Kethriel had been right about the nature of fate. His speed, the nagging desire for adventure, even his life of theft, may all exist for this reason. Most of all, Sonic wished to learn something of himself. He had been without an identity, without a place, for far too long.

Early in the morning, before anybody else was awake, one blue hedgehog wore a backpack over his sharp spines and set out over the emerald hill.


	5. Chemical Plant

PROJECT MOBITROPOLIS  
S Peter Davis 

All characters (C) SEGA, Archie and SP Davis 2004.  
Used without permission

* * *

Monday: Business as Usual, An Interlude

The last week of Mobitropolis as it had been known for over two millennia began without a statement of finality, without any celebration or mourning. Plenty of morning, however, a soft and warm dawn light washing the gritty darkness from the stone and concrete, not a sad process but a familiar one. Things went on much as they always did in Mobitropolis, for nobody knew any different. The future of the city stretched forward in their minds for almost an eternity, much as it stretched back into the past. Fate rarely offers warning when it is about to change something, for best or, regretfully, for worst.

The clock struck the hour of eight in the morning before activity truly peaked in the city of Mobitropolis. To be sure, the merchants began setting up their wares at seven, and some residents were set in their morning walk by the stroke of six, but the lazy city didn't stretch its arms and greet the day until those eight chimes, and it was okay now, because Mobitropolis was safe in the hands of the fearless and cold regulators; they, who never slept, patrolled every street just as heavily at midnight as at the busiest hours of the day.  
Being that Mobitropolis was not a virgin to progress so much as chaste to it, the cautious reintroduction of technology into the city quickly resurrected many modern ideas lost to the people since the end of the Android Wars. Something called a cinema now opened at nine o'clock in the downtown arcade (and another was being built uptown), after somebody had the bright idea of taking filmed footage and playing it back publically on a very large screen. Refridgeration had always been a legal technology, but it wasn't until the recent loosening of robotics laws that such processes could be combined with the lost art of mass-production, to create such luxuries as something called fast food, and even more impressive, supermarkets. Mass-production had flooded Mobitropolis with goods, potentially more than it could consume, and there was an explosion of new industries embracing the gift of heavy machinery to create a ceaseless supply of junk food, magazines, household products and cigarettes. These were all sent to rendezvous at the half-dozen or so major supermarkets now operative in the commercial district, to be sold off systematically to anxious and relieved mobians from every suburb from inland to the coast. The supermarkets also opened at nine.  
Ten o'clock saw a flood of excited children from every street, bouncing and chattering on their way to school. The sun was high in the sky by now, and the air carried the mirth and untainted joy of thousands of mobian youths of every race, playing kickball and frisbee and handball and hopscotch. Rollerblades and skateboards made the footpaths an obstacle course for adults. It didn't take too long for this to calm down as the bells rang and classes began. The most expensive of the schools had recently introduced a small number of computers for student access, albeit primitive ones. Restrictions were still heavy handed when it came to computer technology for the public, but when the laws began to loosen, the first to benefit were educational facilities.  
The sun reached the epoch of its journey and at last began to descend. School ran from ten to four as always, and then the morning began to reflect itself onto the afternoon as children ran and skipped and played their way back home again. Shadows grew long and faded as the day wore on.  
If there was one thing different about the city today it was this: A mural of graffiti, haphazardly sprawled across the stone palace walls, having appeared overnight and now visible in the sunlight. Red paint was used, and although the text was rushed and scribbled, it was legible.

"MOBITROPOLIS WORKERS UNION DEMANDS: NO MORE ROBOTS!"

Some would say that the ancient city deserved a warning, but others would insist that business as usual was fitting, that anything less simply wouldn't be Mobitropolis. Either way, the clock was ticking.

* * *

CHEMICAL PLANT

Waking up in a strange place was nothing new to the blue hedgehog who now called himself Sonic; certainly a strange place usually entailed a new dumpster in a fresh alley, but this was the first time he had woken up on the street of a busy city as Sonic, and although it was only a word it felt like the entire world had started to spin in a whole new direction. One day's journey to the north had brought the hedgehog to the familiar streets of Station Square, an oddly named city very much like Mobitropolis, to which Sonic (or Blue, as he had been known) and his friends had made numerous pilgrimages. Not for the change of atmosphere, but for the revinue - Station Square was a big gambling town, and pockets burst at the seams on every corner. An almost unavoidable consequence was an inflated criminal element.  
Sonic let his eyes adjust to the light as he lay in an almost-empty metal garbage dumpster. As he began to yawn, a passer-by threw an unfinished milkshake on top of him, which burst over his head in a sticky raspberry-flavoured shower. "Hey!" he shouted, spluttering. New city, business as usual.  
Station Square, in a time long passed, was nothing but a large encampment for tin miners out of Mobitropolis, a settlement nested in a shallow square-shaped valley walled in by rocky hills. A number of Mobitropolis' struggling entertainment businesses (both legitimate and shady) saw benefits to operating within the mining settlement, as it was barely regulated and the workers were eager to consume any form of leisure, especially those which dealt with the betting of money. Eventually, as all things evolve, Station Square became a city in its own right, self-sustaining even after the mines were depleted, but some traditions stayed the same. There was still barely any law and plenty of betting.  
Night time within the Station Square city limits was a thing to behold, a glowing jungle of neon vines and artificial beasts, a gigantic statue in the likeness of a golden-maned lion bellowed its fearsome but impotent roar over the herd of people grazing the electronic poker machines, roulette wheels and card tables in Casinopolis, the Station Square casino district. Like mindless zephyr, mobians came from all around to partake in the temporary pleasures of greed and drink, whacked out of their gourd on mega mack and the thrill of the game, almost completely indifferent to the almost inevitable and considerable financial losses which awaited them come morning and sanity.  
For the daytime was indeed a more sane and secure environment, almost a different city really, after the bars were closed down ('time, gentlemen, please', the barkeeper would say, and the drunken flies would be unleashed time and time again upon the sober world), after the throbbing beat of the clubs was silenced and the roulette balls stopped dead in their orbit. Only then could the rational eye truly see this city for what it was, because it was in the daytime that the wheel of fortune was just a wheel, the slot machine was just a box, and His Royal Majesty the King of Hearts was nothing but a face on a scrap of card, his reign over the kingdom of wallets at an end. The rational eye could see this, and take mere note of it until sundown when the whole machine started up all over again.  
As Sonic groomed the sticky raspberry mess out of his spines, he noticed the city around him, but things different to what he usually noticed. This was a mission of justice rather than deceit, and somehow this concept seemed more fitting to him, more comfortable. One thing that interested him was the way Station Square had embraced technology on a much wider scale than Mobitropolis. It seemed, almost disturbingly, to have ravaged the post-prohibition society, consumed it, and practically vomited out a neon sea of modernism. Cars rushed past him on sealed roads of bitumen and tar, cloaked by the shadows of high-rise commercial buildings and apartments, monoliths to the modern era. It was hot, the sun straining itself to be the one true hand of nature in this cacophony of furious modernisation. Station Square was hungry for the future.  
As he walked, Sonic contemplated his mission. A jewel, apparently hidden amongst this new age capitalist citadel of concrete and steel, a jewel of fantastic power, one seventh of the future of Mobitropolis. He stopped in the street, just in the niche of an alley so as to avoid being in the way, and opened the backpack that Kethriel had given to him. He felt inside, digging past the burgandy silk bag (its contents were hard and warm, he noticed) and some unappetising starchy bread to a soft furry pouch that Sonic had found was full of money. Not a fortune, but enough to last a while if he was careful with it. He certainly wouldn't be gambling it away.  
"I'd keep that under wraps if I were you," came a voice from the shadows. Surprised, the hedgehog turned around to see a concealed stranger digging through a garbage can in the dark of the alleyway. "Sorry?" Sonic asked.  
"That cash," the voice replied, "Don't let anybody see that you have it. People just take things here. Stupid." Sonic could see two eyes glowing of their own accord in the darkness. It was the voice of a child with the tone of an adult, an adolescent matured too early by the harsh streets.  
"Oh, right," he said, indeed feeling stupid, and hid the money in the pouch. The stranger came more closely into view - a fox child. But something was very strange about him, for there were two dirty orange tails dragging behind him, not just one.  
"I've seen you," Sonic began, wracked with de'ja'vu, "Somewhere... I'm sure of it. Those tails"  
"Spare some of that change for a hungry mutant, can you?" the kid asked. Sonic became flushed suddenly and turned away a little, thinking up excuses. This money was for his mission, and there was precious little of it. "Fine," the kid spat, "Sod off then, hedgehog. Outta my way"  
A sudden pang of guilt ripped through Sonic's heart. Less than a week off the streets, was he already forgetting what it was like?  
"Hey, here," he said, offering a ten-dollar note, "Here, get something to eat"  
"Bah, keep it," the kid replied, "Just remember, this is Nails Gang territory. I'd move on pretty quick if I were you, brainless"  
He moved quickly on, looking into every garbage can he found along the street. Pedestrians looked at him, some repulsed but others pitiful. The fox didn't look at any of them.  
"Nails Gang," Sonic said to himself, "That's bad news. I need to find this chemical place before it gets dark."

King Acorn sat alone in his grand hall as the sun filtered through from outside. He watched it illuminate the archaeic designs on the wall, and the sublime way it lit up the colourful plated glass windows. The king looked up when the heavy doors swung open and somebody else stepped into the hall - it was Packbell, the Defense Minister, out of uniform but nevertheless dressed as formal as one would while walking about the royal palace.  
"Your Majesty," he said, bowing low, "Forgive me, I didn't realise you were here"  
"It is no bother," the monarch replied, "Come, speak to me a while"  
Packbell approached the throne, walking past the empty desks reserved for the absent parliament. Later, this hall would be full of bickering politicians. In the silence it could scarcely be conceived, but with a healthy imagination the faint echo of a billion raised voices from a million meetings could be heard. Packbell looked over the front desks and the ready plaques that announced the title of each minister portfolio: Education, Science, Social Security, Foreign Affairs, Business, Defense, Arts, Medicine. He lingered for a moment at his own desk, and then sat down at it.  
"I was admiring the sunrise," the king admitted, "It is easy to forget the simple pleasures, sometimes. Especially in times like these. Easy to forget the feel of the sun on your skin, or the smell of a flower"  
"It is truly a beautiful sight, Majesty," Packbell replied.  
Acorn sat up in his throne, an instinctually regal pose. "It was never something I anticipated," he said, "But I am in the autumn of my life. My time is coming to a close, Packbell. There is so much that I never achieved with my position, so much I wished to do for my people, and already the time has come to choose my successor and begin to create a new ruler for this old kingdom. It is a difficult choice"  
"Difficult," Packbell echoed, "Forgive me, I do not understand"  
The king sighed a little, not a frustrated sound so much as an indication of weariness. "I have never been close to my son," he admitted, "Always so dedicated to tradition, Martin has been. I feel sometimes that he has lost touch with the people. He loves the media, loves to show the less privelaged citizens the life they cannot have. He lacks the dedication to the people that my daughter has. I fear sometimes that he almost despises the working class." The old monarch looked down at his hands, wrinkled and ancient. "So many long years in this world, one wish that was never granted to me was the joy of a worthy and favourable son to call my heir. Packbell, you and I have had so many long conversations in this hall, although we have not known each other for so very long, I can almost say that you are the closest thing to a son I have ever known. If it were possible, I would be tempted to hand the kingdom over to you and be done with it"  
"You are far too kind, Majesty," Packbell replied, "I'm sure that you will make the best choice for your kingdom, and in any event I'm sure that either of your children would make a better ruler than I could ever hope to be. They come from the best stock, after all"  
"Flattery will get you everywhere, my boy," the king smiled, "Thank you for being a good friend to an ageing figurehead. It makes my later years bearable."

Acornex Chemical was a huge conglomerate that supplied refined products of various kinds to most of the kingdom, and many foreign nations as well. Sonic was awed by the scale of it. A very sterile looking concrete and metal building with light-blue walls and 'caution' signs posted everywhere, the chemical plant cropped up in the centre of the Station Square industrial district, mismatched among rows of dirty and old smoke-stained factories and warehouses.  
The first thing that came to Sonic's mind when he approached the plant was that it was very similar to the engineering level of the palace basement back in Mobitropolis. Little robots were swarming everywhere, doing all kinds of odd jobs, from loading and unloading tanks of chemicals on and off trucks, to cleaning and sweeping, to what seemed like just milling about. Sonic wondered idly how many jobs were lost to these mindless workers, these unquestioning drones who could work a twenty-four hour shift and never ask for a cent. And he wondered how much better off the company was since the new technology's implementation.  
Oddly, the illusion was broken by two uniformed security guards who wandered past, reminding Sonic which city he was actually in. Despite the government's new policies regarding law enforcement back in Mobitropolis, the city of Station Square was still regulated by living and breathing mobians. There wasn't a SWAT-bot to be seen, much to Sonic's relief, as the Station Square police had always been significantly easier to dodge than any robot.  
The hedgehog approached the building with caution, keeping in the back of his mind the fact that he had no idea what he was going to do when he got there, where he was going to enter or where he was going to go once he did. These concerns were bubbling to the surface when a hand touched his shoulder from behind.  
Fear shot through him, and he stopped dead in his tracks.  
"Are you a part of the tour group?" a voice asked.  
Puzzled, Sonic turned around to see an attractive lady squirrel in a suit standing behind him. She smiled sweetly, and so, nervous, he smiled back at her.  
"Uh. Sure"  
"Great!" she exclaimed, "But this is the loading bay area. Nothing interesting to see around here, that's for sure. The group just headed off a moment ago, around that corner. You can catch up with them, you won't have missed much"  
"Thanks," Sonic replied, blushing slightly. He took off towards where he had been directed. A large door led into the plant from a side entrance, with a sign beside it listing tour operation times. He could hear voices, nearby but fading, coming from just inside, so he stepped into the brightly lit corridor beyond.

"Acornex Chemical supplies ten thousand megalitres every day of refined polyethyl-tetrate, or PET as it's known around these parts, to every city on the continent. PET is a super vital constituant of thousands of useful products, including many plastics, paints, cleaning products, fuels and dyes. As you probably already know, it's also the active ingredient in all of your favourite malcoholic beverages, many of which are also mixed and packaged right here. If you wish, you may sample a variety of Acornex refreshments later on in the tour, including our new flavour, Acornex Dry"  
The tour guide, a very smartly dressed lady fox with a very artificial smile, winked on cue and moved the group onward. Sonic trailed behind and poked his head about to see past the other tourists, for he was shorter than most of them and wanted to undertake his mission of espionage without seeming too suspicious about things. He had no idea what he was looking for, and realised that he was half expecting a glowing jewel to just drop from the sky into his outstretched arms. It became obvious, however, that such an important and secret object as the Chaos Emerald was unlikely to appear on the free daily tour of the plant.  
The inside of Acornex Chemical, or at least the parts of it that the public were allowed to see, was spotless and efficient, a corporate mascot for the future. The walls were painted with soft colours and implanted with large windows through which the group could see the inner machinations of the plant. The machines in here weren't like those in the Iron Ward, not clunky and faceless industrial monoliths dripping grease. Through these windows, Sonic could see a happy little work environment where pink and blue robots suited in fibreglass twittered around, turning knobs and pulling levers. The highlight of the tour for many was when they entered the packaging room and met one of the robots first-hand. A tall, blue plastic fellow greeted them and had a short choreographed conversation with the tour guide. Sonic, unlike the others, was far from impressed by the display, having seen more than enough robots in his lifetime and few of them so polite. The robot allowed a very excited girl to shake his hand-hook, and then he said a few robotic words about workplace health and safety. The hedgehog wasn't particularly interested, instead he looked about for any clues about his mission. All he saw were two fairly large and brightly painted cylinders tended to by more friendly robots. A sign let him know that the cylinders were refining tubes.  
After that was the last stretch of the short tour, and the guide thoughtfully reminded them that a souvenier from the gift shop is the best way to remember the Acornex Chemical experience. Sonic was somewhat pessimistic about the idea that there was a Chaos Emerald on sale there.  
The tour corridor ended after one last window, which Sonic almost didn't look through. When he glanced upwards, however, and through to the brightly coloured working floor below, something gleamed in the corner of his eye. He slowed down without stopping, trying to see properly. An ajar door down below allowed a mostly obscured view of another room, and inside this other room was some kind of glass tube with something glowing brightly in the centre. It was only visible for a moment before the angle drove it out of sight. A sign over the door warned that the room was ABSOLUTELY NO ENTRY.  
No time to check it out, though, before the group was ushered into the gift shop. Sonic, stunned by the actualisation of his mission, was yanked back into capitalist reality when he was confronted by dozens of cardboard boxes full of buttons and figurines of characatured blue and pink Acornex robots. Bumper stickers declared "I saw the future at Acornex Chemical, Station Square." Shelves were lined with plush robot-toys and tiny souvenier malcohol liquour bottles. Sonic pretended to shuffle through the merchandise as his mind raced, thinking about ways he could ditch the tour before he found himself stuck outside again without an excuse to return. Behind a row of shelving, he shuffled through boxes of tacky nick-nacks. He picked up a keyring with a cartoon robot waving at him with its hook, standing above the Acornex logo. It was semi-translucent, and Sonic held it up to one of the lights in the ceiling, but as he did he noticed that one of the ceiling panels was slightly ajar, offering him a glimpse into the dark beyond. At that point, he heard the tour instructor ushering the group out. He looked around quickly and saw a door in the corner of the shop labelled staff only. The hedgehog, adrenaline activating his signature speed, pulled it open and ducked inside. It was dark inside, and he almost tripped on a cluster of things with wooden poles attached. Brooms and dusters - apparently he had stumbled into a storeroom. He waited with his ear to the door to hear if anybody had noticed his bizarre actions, but all of the talking subsided and eventually stopped as the rest of the tour group left the building.  
Sonic slowly stepped out from the storeroom and observed the open panel above. He looked around to see whether he could be seen from the front desk, but his presence was obscured by a towering set of shelves, as long as he was careful to stay behind them. Regardless, it was necessary for him to climb the shelves in order to reach the hole. Sonic tested the shelf for his weight, and when he was satisfied he began to climb. Slowly at first, then with more confidence. Suddenly he put his foot on a box of keyrings and dragged it off its shelf. With another almost primal display of instinctual speed, he caught it again with his toes and dragged it back. A single keyring fell out and clattered onto the floor, and Sonic froze, splayed out on the shelves, silently listening with closed eyes and gritted teeth for the army of police swarming in to stop him. Nothing, though. He heard somebody behind the counter messing around with the cash register. Choking back a sigh, the hedgehog continued to scale upward. He reached the thin square panel and carefully pushed it the rest of the way open, trying to align the sounds of his movement with the sounds of the storekeeper's own meddlings. At last Sonic had a hole wide enough for him to climb inside, and he pushed off from the shelf to drag himself inside. This time, he did take a box with him. His backpack bumped off a box of Acornex buttons, and the dozens of plastic circles fell to the ground in a cacophony. Sonic swore under his breath and pulled himself all the way inside the ceiling, replaced the panel behind him and waited. He heard the sounds of the shopkeeper coming towards him, and thought for a moment that he was caught for sure. He would be hauled away to prison and never complete his mission, and the Freedom Fighters would forever remember him a failure.  
A moment of agonizing silence. Then, the sound of the buttons being scooped up and returned to their box. Sonic almost cried out in relief when the presence returned from whence it came. He began to shuffle slowly through the mess of wires and cobwebs that composed this dark area beyond the usual tour route.

The darkness was all enveloping. It felt as if he were drowning in it. The air was thick with black. He felt suspended, as if in outer space. Gravity was a vague concept of which he was only mildly aware. Sonic knew he was drugged before he even knew what drugs were.  
He was running, now. He wasn't running toward something, or away from something, but simply running. Not moving even an inch, but running. Prodded with something hot, his pained scream. Two snakes coiled around each other in a deadly embrace. A red snake and a blue one. They hissed at him and then attacked.  
Sonic woke up with a start, yelping into the darkness. But there were no snakes here, just a musty smell and some kind of metal grating under his body. He remembered what had happened, he'd fallen asleep in the ceiling of the chemical plant as he waited for the situation to change, but unfortunately it remained the same. The room below him was protected by two SWAT-bots, which was strange given that SWATs were rarely seen outside of Mobitropolis. It was understandable, because the room contained one of Prince Martin's prized emeralds, a small but intricately shaped red gem that glowed, remarkably, with its own light. It was like magic, but it wasn't magic, just a science that Sonic didn't understand. It may as well have been magic, so much about this entire affair seemed to defy reality. He could see all of this through gaps in the barred ceiling below him.  
So close and yet so far, Sonic backed away and began to crawl back to where he had entered. It was time to initiate a new strategy, although he wasn't sure what it could be. His thoughts were accompanied by the sound of running water from somewhere below. He looked down to find that he was now crawling over a fast-flowing stream; not water at all, but a deep blue liquid of some kind. Sonic recognised it as mega mack, the pure spirit not yet filtered into a consumable form. This river of malcohol would eventually be mixed, bottled and showered over an army of overexcited gamblers in Casinopolis, all anxious for some kind of quick rush. The heart and soul of Station Square's success was right here.  
As he pondered this, Sonic neglected to notice that he was crawling over a loose grate. Before he could stop himself, the weight of his body pushed it open, hurling him towards the river of blue. At the last moment and with a barking shout, he grabbed onto the swinging grate with one hand. There he hung, grasping with reckless abandon at the bars above with his other hand, but his weight displaced in such a way that he couldn't reach it. To climb back up, he would need to jettison the backpack that Kethriel had given him. It was too heavy for such acrobatics. Its contents were too important, though, so he decided with a tightness within that the only way to go was down. He took in a breath and let go of the grate, and after a short drop he was drenched in undiluted mega mack. It assaulted his senses immediately, the stinging odour and the tingling on his skin. As he was taken by the heavy flow of it, he went under several times, gulping it and coughing it out again. The liquid tasted of strong, stale whisky and hot ashes. It burned his eyes until he was unable to open them, and so the path before him became a mystery.  
The river flowed into a narrowing tube, and Sonic was suddenly terrified that it would shrink to a point where he would block it and drown in the stuff. This fear subsided when the tube opened up and he found himself dumped from a great height into a gigantic vat of mega mack below him. Time suspended for a moment as he fell, but Sonic was too shocked to take much notice of where he was, suffice to say that it was a huge and daunting place. Then with a mighty splash, nevertheless inaudible against the roaring of the liquid falls around him, he was submerged again. Flailing, trying not to exhale, he struggled to the surface. The flat, pounding beat of the falls turned to a sharp booming again as he bobbed above the liquid and gasped for breath and waded. Luckily enough, mega mack was heavier than water, and despite his carriage his body tended upwards without much effort.  
Now, Sonic had a chance to look about. What he saw shocked him, for no part of this gigantic operation had been a part of the grand tour. Gone were the toylike pink and blue robots smartly milling about and carrying out their spritely duties. Sonic was swimming in a pool of blue liquid barely short of a lake, and around it were dozens of giant, ugly and cumbersome brown mechs, mechanical ogres thundering about the place, lifting barrels and working machinery. Machines like monsters of ancient legend towered above everything, sprouting pipes like branches and steam flowing like dragon's smoke from unseen vents. On the tour, Sonic had seen something that he had been told were refining tubes, but it had only been a ruse to save face for the public eye. The real refinery was here, and two blackened iron tubes rose from the centre of the liquid pool like monoliths and attached to a giant metal cuccoon suspended above. Sonic realised warily that the liquid was actually flowing towards these tubes, their vacuum threatening to pull him under and suck him into the refining tank. He swam to the edge and pulled himself over the side onto dry land.  
Sonic coughed up a mouthful of mega mack and vaguely worried that he may have been poisoned by the stuff. He sat up, and his drenched backpack felt twice as heavy as usual. "Great," he said aloud. Much of his supplies would be ruined.  
Voices. His ears pricked up as he heard somebody coming towards him. Looking around, he saw no clear path of escape, and so before he knew what he was doing, he was back in the lake of malcohol and wading under the lip of the side of it, hoping to be out of sight. The voices continued moving closer until the figures stopped right above him. Sonic choked on his breath and closed his eyes, a silent prayer that they would leave him in peace.

The foreman, a thin and timid weasil, was ignorant of the proper behaviour in the presence of royalty, and it irritated the prince to no end to communicate with somebody whose respect was so lacking. Nevertheless, it was necessary on occasion to speak to the unwashed masses in order to get anything done. Necessary, at least for the time being. It remained that fear was not respect, but it seemed it was as good as would be achieved.  
Prince Martin scowled as he gazed over the lake of blue spirits, the substance referred to colloquially as mega mack. The stench of it offended his senses. The foreman beside him breathed heavily, pausing occasionally to clear his throat.  
"I have a quota to fill," the prince said, "That's all there is to it. I must say that I'm reaching the end of my tether. You've been employed for a certain purpose. If you cannot fulfil that purpose then obviously I need to employ somebody different"  
"Demand has been high this quarter," the foreman replied, "If we don't provide for our customers, then they'll go somewhere else. I don't know what you need all of this excess product for, but it's killing us trying to produce it on top of our usual output"  
"This is my company," the prince said, "All of this, this all belongs to me. I own the largest malcohol refinery in the known world. That means that if I want a large amount of malcohol, I should be able to get it. It's just common sense. If there's a problem with that, then you need to rectify that problem"  
The prince held up something and admired it in the dim industrial lighting. It was not difficult to see, for it produced its own light, a red glow, deep like hellfire. It reflected in the prince's dark eyes.  
"I think that this is my favourite," he said softly, and he appeared to be talking more to the emerald than to the foreman. "You and your brothers are going to create for me the greatest kingdom ever conceived by this planet of filth. And I think that I will have you embedded into my crown. Yes. That is, if this fool can see fit to do his job properly"  
He put the emerald away and instead pulled out a small gold cigarette case. He flipped it open and withdrew a single white rod, lighting it with a golden lighter in the shape of a dragon.  
"Excuse me, sir," the foreman ventured, "I'm afraid you can't smoke in here. The chemical, it's very flammable, you see"  
The prince dragged on the cigarette unfazed, held it in for a moment and then released it in two short puffs. Then, he turned with one quick motion and extinguished it on the sleeve of the foreman's overalls.  
"You have until the end of the week," he said, "to fill my quota. This is not negotiable. I don't care what has to be done. Fire somebody. Keep them on their toes"  
"There's nobody left to fire!" the foreman replied, "We're almost fully staffed by robots, now"  
"Then rust some damned gaskets," the prince replied. "I don't know. That's the worst problem with robots, I suppose. You just can't inspire fear in them"  
With a final glance over the chemical pool, he walked on. The foreman sighed and walked in the other direction.

Sonic felt as if his heart might escape his chest by way of his throat and leap into the pool, such was his fear of being caught by the prince in his own chemical plant without so much as a single emerald to make his adventure worthwhile. But there was a certain sense of exhilaration present in the experience, something that made him want to stay and eavesdrop some more. He climbed from the pool and watched the prince walk, daintily but with great purpose, towards a doorway leading to a hall.  
He had the emerald. The prince was holding the glowing red object in his own hands, and Sonic knew that it was probably the only chance he had to swipe it before it was put back into the heavily secured case. To steal from a prince, a pickpocket's dream.  
He followed Prince Martin into the halls of the chemical plant, feet treading softly so as not to make a sound. He wasn't sure where he was being led, so he kept to the shadows as much as possible in case a troupe of SWAT-bots came marching around the corner, or even police. He realised, though, with a certain sense of dread, that he would probably be caught in such a situation anyway. It's not like there was anywhere to go.  
The prince opened another door and began to ascend a stairwell. Sonic followed him into an industrial scaffolding that overlooked a flowing river of mega mack. The liquid poured into a tube similar to the one Sonic had fallen into. Martin stopped and leaned on the handrail, peering downward into the river. The lighting was poor, and it was getting dark outside. Shadows began to flow over the metal bars and criss-cross the walls like a postmodern artwork. The scaffolding crossed with others, and Sonic climbed off onto another footbridge below, so that he was concealed directly underneath the prince, cloaked in the shadows.  
The prince withdrew his cigarettes again and lit one, sucking deep the thick intoxicating smoke before breathing it out through his nose. He watched the river of liquid. Sonic watched him watching it. The prince wore a long overcoat, but one of its pockets glowed with a distinct redness, especially visible in the dim light.  
Sonic moved his foot and kicked something by accident. He stopped. The prince jerked his head, eyes narrowed. The hedgehog below him retracted, shrank back into himself, heart beating powerfully. He feared the sound of his heart might give him away.  
The prince, his mark, resumed smoking and held his head in an open hand, breathing weakly in the near-silence. He was alert, though, his attention wandering. Sonic wasn't confident, and confidence was a commodity he desperately needed at the moment.  
Slowly, delicately, he slipped his backpack off his shoulders and lay it down. He was about to make his move, for better or worse, when his foot again kicked something loose below him. The prince spun around, head darting back and forth. Sonic froze. He looked down and saw a lone bolt sitting on the metal scaffolding, under his foot.  
"Who's there?" the prince demanded of the darkness. There was no reply but for the flowing of the liquid below. Sonic knew suddenly what his only chance was to be, and it was certainly a risk. In the heat of the tension, he picked up the bolt and cast it away with a hard over-arm pitch. The heavy metal object clanged on beams and machinery until it dropped into the malcohol stream in a punctuated final plop.  
Now, it was freeze time. The prince's attention was focused, sharp and static, his eyes betraying his fear. The Crown Prince, travelling alone through dark corridors in a foreign land, open from all angles to any kind of attack. His breath was ragged, harsh. He was about to cast away his cigarette and run, when at the last moment he realised that the liquid below was flammable, and he caught himself, not without swearing loudly and freezing still, so still that he didn't notice the hand in his pocket.  
"Who is it?" he demanded again. The silence was his reply. The stream below reflected the light so that it shimmered and blinked across his face.  
"Bloody robots." He dropped his cigarette onto the scaffolding beneath his feet and stomped it out, resting his forehead in both of his hands. Instinctively he reached into his pocket, frowning when he grasped only air.

Sonic couldn't find his way out, which was the most frightening thing. He was deep inside the heart of the plant, and it must have been underground because he had been descending forever. Clamoring down a flight of stairs, he found himself in a deep set of catacombs lined with tubes, each aflow with blue liquid. After running up and down for what must have been a quarter hour, he stopped to catch his breath and look around.  
The Chaos Emerald was warm in his hand, and his gaze shifted down to it. Only a small thing. It glowed radiant with an eerie red light that seemed to flicker very slightly, to dim and brighten. It was a natural light, nothing created by the deity hand of science, but it had also been intricately shaped by hand into a design perfect for reflecting its own light and radiating it outward. It had been shaped crudely, not with any modern tool, but with great care and much love. What was more, the object was hard like diamond. Perfecting this shape by hand must have taken years. Perfecting it seven times, probably decades. Sonic couldn't imagine having so much dedication to such a small thing.  
"So all this mess is about you," he said. "I think I'm kinda disappointed." He realised that he was talking to the emerald, just as the prince had been. He supposed that counted for something.  
Descending another flight of stairs, he found himself on a balcony, overlooking another very vast area. Below, he noticed what must have been scores, dozens, perhaps even hundreds of clunky, dumb-looking robots. They were very active, loading barrels atop each other, categorising and shifting them. Thousands of barrels.  
"What are they doing down here?" he asked himself. The loading bays were upstairs, near ground level. He had seen them - products moved upwards, towards the surface, as they neared completion. This appeared to be some kind of alternative storage. What for? He remembered the prince and the foreman discussing something over the mega mack pool, the prince had spoken of some kind of quota for a large amount of malcohol he required for some reason. There certainly was a large amount being moved in this area, thousands of gallons. Sonic wasn't sure he wanted to know the reason for it.  
Something cold dripped on the hedgehog from above, and he looked up. A ladder beside him led upwards for quite a distance, toward a small circle of light. Happy to travel up rather than down for once, he tested the ladder for strength and then climbed it.

Station Square came alive at night, and now it was waking from its daytime slumber as dusk allowed passage for the black wraith of darkness to take hold. Neon would rule this city soon. In the street, a small round hole-cover was lifted with a great effort, and a blue hedgehog climbed out of it, to the idle interest of a number of onlookers.  
Sonic replaced the cover behind him, hugging his sore arms to his body, and looked towards the setting sun. He walked over to the growing shadows of an alleyway nearby and sat down against the wall, removing his backpack and cradling it between his knees.  
He looked at the emerald again before setting it down on the pavement. Its light pulsed, offering no suggestions about how to proceed. He unzipped his pack and rifled through it. As he feared, his unscheduled swim in the chemical river had turned all of his food to a kind of homogenous porridge-like mush that caked over everything else. He upsided the bag and tipped its contents onto the concrete. His map was crumpled and saturated, the ink running slightly. It was still readable with some effort. Everything was covered in an unappetising gray slop.  
"Excellent," he said to himself. He spent a while cleaning everything as best he could, until his aching muscles and tired eyes began to find the growing darkness irresistable. Packing his bag again, complete with the red emerald, he ventured deeper into the alley to find an inconspicuous and dark place to rest.  
He dreamed about snakes again, that night. For some reason, snakes had always been a part of his dreams. Slithering through his mind, bringing with them fragments of memory and nightmare of a time long past. Red and blue snakes, hissing like demons in the dark.  
Sonic didn't know for how long he slept. It was at best an uncomfortable doze on the cold, hard street of the city. After only a short time running snake-dreams through his mind, he was awoken by some kind of frenzied activity. Not quite awake, he crawled in the darkness towards the sound. His hand fell upon something on the pavement - feeling it a little, he identified it as a small cooking-pot, not unlike the one Kethriel had put in his pack. A short ways ahead was a soggy book of matches, something made of cloth, a wet sheet of paper, a silk bag with something hard inside.  
Sonic's panic was intense when he realised what was happening, the knowledge pulling him back into reality. Somebody was rifling through his bag, throwing things about. He couldn't see who it was, but he groped towards the sound.  
Suddenly a burst of red light illuminated the situation. The thief pulled the Chaos Emerald out of the backpack, betraying his own face in the process. It was the two-tailed street-fox, baring an expression of awe and wonder as he held the emerald in the dark.  
"Drop it!" Sonic demanded. The fox saw him and fled immediately, throwing the pack to the ground and taking off with his glowing prize. The hedgehog persued, leaving the alley behind and finding the glowing lights of a fully-awakened Station Square.  
The fox was a fast runner, but not as fast as Sonic. He knew his ability, and with his head down he realised that potential, working his legs at full sprint. The wind rushed past him as if he were running through a typhoon, and he tackled the fox, who yelped as he went down. The emerald rolled down the street, and both thieves wrestled each other as they grappled for it. Sonic had it, but the fox wrenched it away and kicked him in the face. They ran again. Sonic caught up with the fox a second time, but this time the fox jumped over him as he approached. Jumped... and never came down.  
The hedgehog looked around for a few moments, bewildered, but then he heard somebody blowing a raspberry in his direction. He looked, remarkably, upwards to see that the fox was above him still. But how? He was spinning his two tails like rotor blades, and through some miracle of physics they were keeping him in the air. Nothing quite like flight, but he hovered for long enough to defy the hedgehog, whose super speed provided him no ability to take to the skies. The two-tailed fox hop-flew for quite a distance, until Sonic lost hope of catching him. The hedgehog, with a grunt of frustration, ran back to the alley to collect his things, then ran through the city following, as best as he could manage, the bright red glow of the twice-stolen emerald.


	6. Casino Night

PROJECT MOBITROPOLIS  
S Peter Davis 

All characters (C) SEGA, Archie and SP Davis 2004.  
Used without permission

* * *

CASINO NIGHT

The ball rolled around the spinning wheel of fortune, eyes transfixed to it as if it were about to make a statement to the entire world. It seemed that the casino stood still so that the clicking of the ball could be heard despite the crowd. The wheel slowed, slowed, stopped. A moment of nothingness, then the moaning of a hundred disappointed punters broke the silence and spun the casino into disarray again.  
Of the scores of unhappy faces, one was smiling. A jet black bat with crooked features puffed on a cigar twice the length of his snout and showed dozens of tiny dagger-teeth as he grinned, not despite the disappointment of the crowd, but because of it. Teeth like the nails from which his name was derived chewed on the cigar as the bat observed another payday unravelling before his eyes. Every day was a payday, for every punter's loss was another win for him.  
He stepped down and walked past the army of poker machines and their spellbound captives. Past craps and poker and roulette. He had discovered the perfect business, one which neither offered any goods or services nor pretended to, but one which people came to from afar in droves just to pour their pockets into it and leave. For some reason, the more rigged the game was, the more popular it was, especially if he could arrange for one of his close personal friends to every so often experience a very substantial, and very public, jackpot win.  
It was like music, the sounds filling the hub of Casinopolis every night; coins being fed into slots, levers pulled, cards shuffled, the counting of money and the spilling of plastic chips. Technology had been good to Station Square in its seedy underground. The business of chance was always more lucritive when a punter's luck was programmable.  
He spotted Floyd Tabs by the craps table, the persian cat with the scar over his eye with one hand in his pocket and the other holding a glass of fine bourbon and cola. He gave a toothy smile and held up his glass in greeting, a suave gesture to match his houndstooth suit and crisp, polished black shoes.  
"Give me the news, Floyd my boy," the bat said, "Good news first"  
"It's just as well," Floyd replied, "The good news is that there is no bad news. I'm telling you, it's the strangest story, but it comes with a happy ending"  
"Happy for us, I hope"  
"Of course." The cat laughed and drank from his glass with a demeanour that would make Prince Martin Acorn proud. "There I am, sitting in the club with the boys. Two stunning ladies have taken to sharing a drink with Carson and I, so we're kicking back and chilling out with a couple of mega macks and having a smoke, when suddenly who should we see? The kid strolls in, like he's the King of Mobitropolis, says he's looking for you. Of course, I'm ready to whack him upside the head and drag him out by the ears, not to mention have some harsh words with the bouncer. Don't want some ten year-old mutant kid cramping up our style on a Tuesday night, you know what I mean? But anyways, this kid, he starts demanding to see you, I tell him you're working and you're not to be disturbed, and then he opens his hand and- this is the odd part- he shows me this gemstone he's brought in with him. Now, you've gotta see this thing. Without word of a lie, this rock was as big as the kid's fist, and I swear it was glowing. I don't mean it was a little luminescent, I mean the damned thing was glowing, really glowing, like with its own light. I mean you could see in the dark with it. A red light, the colour of a ruby, but the shape of a diamond"  
"You know that I don't like tall tales when we're talking about money, Floyd," the bat warned, "You're prone to exaggeration, but not usually to this extent"  
"Oh, this is no exaggeration, my friend," Floyd insisted, "This is no exaggeration at all. I mean every word of it, I would swear it on the grave of my mother, God bless her dear departed soul. The most beautiful gemstone I've ever seen, right there, in the hands of that kid mutant. Heaven only knows where he found the thing, he won't tell me. He's desperate for your approval"  
"Oh, I'll approve, all right," said the bat, "If what you've said is true after all. If that damned kid is actually good for something"  
A cheer rang out through the casino, followed by much commotion, and the bat searched the crowd for its source.  
"That's the sound of winning," he said, "Why are people winning in my casino, Floyd"  
"They need the money," the cat replied, "So they can pay it back to you. You know that ninety-seven percent of casino winnings go back into the casino." He laughed and took another drink. "I love statistics."

Sonic was lost in the brightness and the splendour of Casinopolis in its full glory, so much so that he almost forgot himself. He had quickly misplaced the emerald's trail as the strange fox darted through the city. Its bright light had vanished amongst the neon and headlights, and now all that he had was a vague direction in which to walk and a vague idea of who to find.  
It was a matter of common knowledge among rogues such as Sonic and his former friends that just about anything that happened to get stolen in Station Square found itself, one way or another, in the hands of Nails the Bat. Nails wasn't the biggest crime boss on Mobius by any stretch of the imagination, but he was the biggest in Station Square, and he was the regional representative to a multifaceted crime syndicate whose central government was so mythological that it may as well have been run by elves and gremlins. He owned three casinos and five nightclubs in Casinopolis, and oversaw just about everything illicit that was smuggled in or out of the city. The most important piece of information about Nails the Bat was that rival crooks had a habit of disappearing if they spent too much time in his shady jurisdiction, unless they wanted to change employers.  
A group of girls whistled at Sonic from the footpath, and as he turned to face them he bumped into somebody walking the other way. "Watch it kid!" the other warned, and the hedgehog smiled uneasily as he hurried along. His mind wandered to his depleted food supply and he became concerned as to how his cash might stretch the week. As he worried, he almost collided with a group of people lined up on the street. They were all clad in the most casual attire, each of them making some form of visual statement, and Sonic saw that they were waiting to enter a place called Mercury, which he recognised as one of Nails' clubs.  
A muscular gorilla stood with his arms folded at the doorway, and multicoloured lights beamed out onto the street from behind him, as well as the distant beat of dance music. Every so often, he pointed at somebody in the line, and they slipped inside. Sonic stood back, idly wondering if this was where the strange fox had taken his emerald. If he was a lackey of Nails, he almost certainly would have run back to his boss to show off what looked like the most expensive ruby in the known universe. But there was no way a dirty street-hedgehog, and an underage one at that, could have slipped into an exclusive Casinopolis hotel. It was an idea he quickly dismissed, and stood back to reanalyse the situation.  
As he watched the line of social partygoers semi-interestedly, he noticed somebody walking towards the club from the opposite direction. It was a flamboyantly dressed cat, sporting a bright white leisure suit, shoes so sharp they may have cut steel, and a wide-brimmed hat with a purple feather poking out of it, not to mention a syrofoam soda cup he was sipping away on. He almost danced stright into the club, his only acknowledgement of the bouncer a smooth finger-gun motion and a wink. The muscle-bound gorilla was unamused, immediately moving to block the eccentric stranger's path.  
"Aw come on man," the cat complained, "Give a guy a break, I'm cool, I come here all the time"  
"Get to the back o' the line," the bouncer replied.  
"Nah, it's cool, it's cool," the stranger insisted, "Just ask Robbie, the guy who was doin' the door here just the other night, he'll tell you it's all cool, real smooth like"  
"Back of the line, I won't ask you again"  
Somebody from the line shouted out at him, "Hey jerkwad, how about you wait in line like the rest of us"  
"How about you plug up that ugly hole in your face with another hamburger, fatso?" was the cat's retort.  
"You think you're funny or something, you loser?" somebody else shouted.  
The cat responded by throwing his drink into the crowd. It caused a decent amount of collateral damage, and almost immediately started an all-out brawl. The bouncer started shouting, trying to break up the fighting.  
Before Sonic knew what he was doing, he had slipped into the club. The one disadvantage (or possible advantage) of being so quick was that he frequently acted before his brain was able to discern what it was that he was doing. The sound of the brawl outside was immediately drowned by the heavy beat of the club music, and he ventured towards the red and purple lights to the dark belly of the beast. There, mobians from all walks of life moved through the shadows with drinks and cigarettes, dancing, chatting and just sitting around. Sonic had never seen the inside of one of these places, and it was an intimidating sight. He was clearly too young to be there.  
On the dance floor, a thick crowd of people danced furiously to the powerful and overbearing music. Above them, on a balcony, the disc jockey bopped along to it as he worked the equipment. Sonic felt as if the racket was going to melt his brain, and almost had to put his hands over his ears to stop it from dribbling out. It certainly wasn't his kind of music, and he pushed through the crowd in search of someplace marginally less obnoxious.  
The bar was as crowded as the dance floor, but the cacophony was reduced to a dull roar, and Sonic hovered around nearby, looking about for the bright red glow. After a while he took a seat in a corner and sighed miserably in his defeat. Five emeralds he was sent to collect, and the very first one he had lost to some bizarre flying kid.  
"They should have sent Rat," he said to himself, reminiscing about his friends back at home, "Or Powder. They would have been able to do this. I'm a terrible thief, outfoxed by a fox"  
There was a girl sitting opposite to him, a squirrel who might have been related to Princess Sally if not for her larger eyes and much less conservative dress. He noticed that she was staring at him, and now she stood up and walked over to him, sitting beside him.  
"Hey there," she shouted over the music, "Having fun"  
"Yeah. Sure." Sonic offered a half-smile.  
"What's your name"  
"Blu- Sonic"  
"Blah Sonic?" The girl chuckled and play-punched him. "What are you, fifteen"  
"I don't know," he replied, "Probably"  
"What are you doing here, Blah Sonic"  
"Saving the world"  
She laughed again. "Well, good luck with that. I'm Melinda"  
"Hey"  
"You know, you're a little young to be drinking"  
"I haven't been drinking"  
"You're a terrible liar," she replied, "You reek of mega mack. If you haven't been drinking it, then you've been swimming in it"  
Now Sonic was the one who laughed. What a day it had been. "Yeah, okay. You caught me"  
Someone else sat down with them. A weasil with a mohawk and a floral shirt under a suede jacket.  
"What's happening, Mel?" he asked, loudly.  
"Just chatting to this cute kid," Melinda replied.  
"Hey man!" The weasil shouted at him, "Whoa, I love the dye job, man, that's totally wild"  
"Dye job?" Sonic asked.  
"Yeah, blue spines! That's mad"  
"Oh. Thanks"  
"The name's Jude," the loud stranger introduced himself, "You here with somebody, kid"  
"No"  
"Waitin' for somebody"  
Sonic was silent for a moment, then, "I'm looking for Nails"  
He might as well have said that he was a mass murderer for the sudden change in their expressions. It was a valid reaction, as few people in Casinopolis were actually looking for Nails unless they were gangsters - or the police.  
Jude began to laugh first, a shocked and befuddled laugh, as if Sonic had just told him to sod off. "You've gotta be kidding me"  
"Nope," Sonic replied, "You know where I can find him"  
"Did you say Nails? Like, Nails the Bat"  
"Sure did"  
The two strangers looked at each other for want of a better response.  
"The kid's got game"  
"Oh Jude, Jude, don't, he's crazy"  
"Nah Mel, this kid's got serious game"  
Jude stood up and offered his hand to Sonic, who took it, and the weasil took him through the club, dancing and bopping his head as he moved.  
"Now tell me, small one," he said, "What, and I say what, in God's name, do you want to find Nails the Bat for"  
"I've got some business to discuss," Sonic replied.  
Jude gave somebody a high-five as they passed by, and then turned back to him. "Business, you say? You should be at home playing videogames and swapping cards, not doing business with gangsters"  
"He has something of mine," the hedgehog said, "Look, do you know where I can find him, or not"  
They stopped at a window, and Jude pointed outside.  
"You see the old church?" he asked.  
Sonic nodded. The antiquated building across the road had the look of an ancient synagogue. It had been restored and taken care of professionally, but nevertheless looked as if it might collapse in on itself at any moment.  
"Well, not a church anymore, but a den of sin, my small friend," Jude said, "A meeting place for brigands and thieves, cheaters and murderers. I've seen things in there, terrible things. He doesn't like visitors, either, but he's in there. The bat's in the belfry, my friend, the bat's in the belfry"  
"Really?" Sonic asked, "He's in there"  
"That's what I said," Jude replied, "But tell me, you're not really serious about this, are you"  
Sonic didn't reply. Was that a dull red glow he saw eminating from the church's windows, or was it the club lights working in the corners of his eyes?  
"I've gotta go," he said, and began towards the exit.  
"Then go, kid," Jude replied, "Go like the wind, but remember, crime doesn't pay, kid! Remember that! Remember old Jude told you that!"

Deep within a ramshackle old church in the centre of the Station Square casino district was an unlikely place for an underground crime syndicate to make their base of operations, and that was what made it so perfect for the task. Smoke choked up the pews and a deck of cards blasphemed the altar on this busy night, and the darkness swallowed whole the den of thieves but for a small number of candles and one red jewel.  
"Spectacular," Nails said as he gazed into the deep red depths of it, his own bloodened reflection leering back at him, "Absolutely spectacular, I've never seen anything like this in my life." He put it down on the pew in front of him. "Where did you get this"  
"Oh, it was just lying around," the fox replied, "In somebody's backpack"  
"Interesting," Nails said.  
"Quite a nice looking prize, Prower," Floyd Tabs added, "Good score, pity about the poor bloke who lost it. Ours now"  
"So, now you know what I can do, right?" the fox asked.  
"Hm? Say what?" Nails looked up momentarily from the gem in front of him.  
"I mean, this is big, right? I've made a big score, just like you wanted. You said I'd be ready for the big time, no more small stuff"  
"I did say that, didn't I," Nails replied, "I guess I say a lot of things. Keep dreaming, kid"  
The fox looked as if he'd been struck. His ears drooped. "But... you said"  
"Now you listen here, Prower," Nails said, "Are you gonna question me? Are you gonna tell me what to do? Who keeps food in your belly, huh? Me, that's who. What do you want, a promotion? You wanna be a part of the clan, huh? What do you need with the 'big stuff', kid? You ain't even a half pint yourself. Don't get greedy, okay? You did good tonight, you keep it up and I'll suffer having you around another few years, got it"  
"Yes sir," the small fox mumbled.  
"What did you say"  
"Yes. Sir"  
"Good kid"  
The bat went straight back to gazing into the emerald. He didn't even look away to strike a match and light his cigar.  
"Hey boss, we got company," warned Carson Crow, looking up from the deck of cards on the altar. Not without hesitation, Nails finally looked up to see a stranger approaching, timidly, from the darkness.  
"Who are you?" he demanded.  
The two-tailed fox, already crestfallen and vulnerable, slithered away into the darkness in recognition. The blue hedgehog walked past the mouldy and forgotten pews to where Nails sat at a bench like a lazy preacher, and he simply pointed to the red Chaos Emerald in the bat's hand.  
"I came for that," he said.  
There was silence throughout the darkened building for a few moments, and then Nails let out a croaking laugh, puffing smoke with every cackle. "Oh"  
"That's right. That kid over there, he took it from my bag. It's mine and I want it back, please." He pointed an accusing finger at the two-tailed fox, who sank further.  
"Well sure," Nails replied, smiling like a businessman, "I feel bad that the little creep disadvantaged you like that. Mother never taught him any manners, you see. Raised in a bad environment. I tell ya what, I'll let you have the thing back. I got no use for a big glowing rock"  
"Thanks very much," the hedgehog replied, "I appreciate it"  
"No problem," Nails said, "How's two hundred sound, we'll call it even"  
"Two hundred"  
"Yeah, two hundred grand, kid, two, then two zeroes, then another three zeroes, a dot, two more zeroes, you get the rock and you get outta my place. Oh wait, but you don't have that much cash, do you kid? You don't even look like you got enough for the bus ride back home"  
"You want me to buy it off you"  
"Why, what do you think this is, the lost and found?" Nails held the emerald out, almost close enough for Sonic to touch it. "You walk around my city with something like this on you, it's your own fault if it gets nicked. I ain't seen you around here before, so let this be a lesson to you. Station Square has a tax on tourists. You try to dodge your payment and you wind up wearing a pair of concrete boots." He puffed on his cigar again, burning it down to a stub, and then flicked it at Sonic in a shower of ash. "Forget it, kid"  
"I have to have it back," Sonic pleaded, "That's not just any gem, it's important. It's very important. A lot of people could die if I don't get it back"  
Nails cocked an eyebrow. "Die, you say? Wow. That is pretty important." He seemed to ponder for a moment. "Okay. Three hundred grand"  
Sonic sighed, and cast a vicious glare towards the fox in the corner.  
"Hey boss, I think I know this kid," said Floyd Tabs, stepping closer to inspect the hedgehog. "Yeah, yeah, hey, this is one of the Mobitropolis boys, he's a swindler"  
"Oh yeah," Nails replied, "Yeah, pickpocket right? I've heard of you. Fastest street swindler from here to the coast. They say you can rob thirty people before the first is done sneezing"  
"That's probably an exaggeration," Sonic admitted, "But yeah. That's me"  
"Well well well." The bat reclined, and lit up another cigar. "Well you know how this kind of thing works, kid. You got swindled, that's all there is to it. Cry me a river. You're one of us whether you like it or not, so the least you could do is show a bit of dignity. Walk away"  
He looked into the emerald for a moment, and then held up his hand. "Wait. No, I have a better idea. Show me"  
"Excuse me"  
"Show me what you can do! What, have I gotta draw you a diagram? If you want this thing so bad, you gotta work for it. I want you to do a job for me. If I like your stuff, then I'll set you up a place in my little family here. You can work the crowds, make a little extra profit for me. You do good, and I'll give you the damned rock. What do you say"  
Sonic frowned. "You want me to steal for you? You think I'm going to steal people's money for you"  
"Sure!" Nails threw up his arms. "What, you've got a stroke of conscience or something? That's what you do, kid, it's what we all do. We're parisites, and don't you think you'll ever be anything else. They revile us, kid, we revolt them. We let them hate us because they pay us for the privilage. That's life. We all eat tomorrow morning. It's crime that makes the world go round." He dragged on his cigar. "Let's face it. If you got robbed, it's because you deserved to. It's because you didn't care enough about your belongings to protect them. That's the beauty of it. That's why I'm so prosperous, kid, it's because nobody steals from me. I care about tomorrow. You gotta ask yourself, are you carrying this thing around because someone told you a bunch of people are gonna die, or is it because you needed a holiday? Do you really care what happens to it? Heck, Prower didn't so much steal it as take it to a better home. I'm not a thief, kid, I'm a liberator of goods. Money practically flies into my hands"  
"Okay, whatever," Sonic said. "Sure. Just as long as I get the emerald back. I want your word"  
"Excellent!" Nails cried, "Now we're getting somewhere. Prower can show you the ropes, the two of you can kiss and make up, maybe you can teach him a thing or two about the game"  
"I want your word, Nails"  
The bat frowned, his toothy grin replaced by a sharp scowl that was almost powerful enough to run a shiver down Sonic's spine.  
"You listen to me, kid, you ain't never going to say my name with such contempt like that. In fact, never say my name at all. What, you think you're my friend or something? 'Round here I'm known as the boss. Remember that. As far as giving you my word, then you've got it. But don't forget, it's just a word." He leaned across the table so that Sonic could smell his rancid smoke-tainted breath. "I bet you want this thing pretty bad, huh kid? Bad enough to steal it right back. Well, let me tell you something. That's why I'm the best at what I do. Ain't nobody steals from the boss"  
Nails tossed the emerald to Floyd, who caught it with one hand, never breaking his charismatic stance. The cat turned to a large safe embedded in the wall behind a religious painting. He opened it with a key and locked the emerald inside, tossing the key back to Nails. The bat then stood and spread his dark wings to their entire span, clutching the key in his clawed fingers. The other gangsters started to laugh, apparently with knowledge that Sonic wasn't privy to. Nails beat his wings and flew upward, circling around a number of times as he ascended the belfry. Sonic had to squint in the darkness to observe as Nails placed the key on a hook far out of reach, and then swooped down with a rush of wind to land on the table.  
"You guys got work to do," he said.

Twinkle Park was an unpopular but sustainable tourist trap towards the outskirts of the city where density and crime were low, so families and young lovers with established night lives but less gall had a viable alternative to gambling and debauchery, while reserving the right to spend obscene amounts of money on crap. Sonic and a young but shrewd two-tailed fox now approached the gates of the theme park together, looking like brothers despite the racial discrepancies. All of Sonic's attempts at communicating with the fox fell on deaf ears, so for the most part they walked in silence. They were both wearing backpacks, though the fox's was, for the moment, empty.  
The cashier was hidden behind a wire cage, and Sonic wasn't sure anybody was in there until the fox approached the booth and asked for two tickets. The hedgehog looked around the entrance for information. He saw nothing but a sign which read 'Fellers, bring your ladies along: Cute couples get in free!' He turned back to the fox in time to see him handing over the money and collecting the tickets.  
"Whoa," he said as they walked through the entrance, "Did you just give that guy a twenty? That's steep"  
"If you wanna dress up like a girl then go for it," the fox replied.  
The park wasn't even remotely crowded, which Sonic figured was typical enough for a Tuesday night. A few families wandered around, their children licking at ice cream, bouncing about with glee. The carnival itself was a tired and rather sad affair, the rides dilapidated and unexciting, but the air was filled with the aroma of cotton candy and the laughter of children who would be just as excited as if it were the greatest carnival on Mobius.  
Sonic watched as the kid fox deliberately bumped into somebody, acted cute and apologetic, and walked away with the fellow's wallet. He strode up to Sonic and waved it in his face.  
"There," he said, "That's it. That's what you do, okay? That's all. Even you can learn that. So go and do it. And don't get caught"  
"Wow, I dunno," Sonic replied, "Looks kinda difficult"  
The fox groaned dramatically and slapped his own forehead. He slipped the stolen wallet into his backpack and sighed. "Look, do you want me to show you again"  
"Don't bother," Sonic said, and held up his own hand so that the fox could see. He was holding three wallets of his own.  
"Hey what the-" the fox spluttered, "What? How"  
"Pretty simple, really. Only I don't make it ridiculously obvious by running into people in an empty carnival. By the way, do you want this back?" He held up his other hand, and he was holding the wallet that the fox had just stolen himself. The fox gasped and groped at his empty backpack. Frowning, he snatched the leather case from Sonic and made a show of shoving it back in.  
"So what?" he asked, "So you know the ropes. That just means we don't have to talk to each other anymore. Leave me alone"  
He tried to ignore the hedgehog by stomping around and looking for another mark, but the only people nearby were children and girls with handbags.  
"What's your name?" Sonic asked, "Prower, isn't it"  
The fox sighed, and turned to him again. "No, it isn't. That's my last name. People call me that to be condescending. If you want to be a jerk then go ahead. Otherwise, call me Tails"  
"Tails," Sonic repeated, "That would be because of the, um"  
"The tails, yes, the two tails. Genius"  
"Great. Well, my name's Sonic, in case you wanted to know"  
"I didn't, but thanks"  
That was the final word for a while. Sonic's curiosity wouldn't allow him to forget about his young associate's unusual talents. A flying fox, in the literal sense. It seemed like something out of a fairytale fantasy. As he pondered, he watched the fox collide with people despite the wide open spaces available to him, and achieve little besides spreading irritation. Sometimes he managed to steal something through some kind of sheer luck. Most times he just stirred up trouble.  
"You get caught a lot, don't you," Sonic said after a while, strolling along and watching the fox's concussion method of street robbery.  
"Shove it, buddy," Tails replied, "I don't need a running commentary"  
"All I'm saying is, if you keep going like this, then your parents are gonna start getting concerned when the cops keep showing up on their doorstep"  
Tails sighed. "Yeah. I'm sure they would, if I had any parents"  
"Oh," Sonic replied. Remove foot from mouth. "Sorry"  
"Don't be. I barely remember my Dad. Nails raised me"  
"How does a slimy gangster - and a jerk, I might add - like Nails wind up raising a kid?" Sonic asked.  
The fox turned on him. "You listen here," he said, "You don't go saying things like that about Nails, okay? You're not exactly a pillar of society, yourself. My Dad and I had to live like this for years just to survive, and Nails gave us protection. When Dad died, Nails gave me a life"  
"Some life," the hedgehog replied, "With the amount of money he rakes in from those casinos, I'd say you're getting a pretty raw deal"  
"Whatever"  
A disapproving row of plastic clowns shook their heads from side to side, mouths agape. Helium filled balloons of every colour swayed sadly in the soft, cool breeze. The carnival was dead, and the ironic lack of distraction forced Sonic to contemplate other things. His thoughts wandered to his conversation (or more accurately, lecture) with Nails the Bat.  
"If you got robbed," the gangster had said, "It's because you didn't care enough about your belongings to protect them"  
Who was this blue hedgehog kidding with all of his talk of great importance, of matters of life and death? It was a glowing rock. This he had always kept firmly in the back of his mind. He was risking life and limb for a rock, but why? Such a small object could never have any great effect on the political turmoil of Mobitropolis, this he subconsciously maintained. Did he not trust Kethriel and the Freedom Fighter movement? He still wasn't sure. Nails, ethically corrupt as he was, seemed to have tapped into some kernal of wisdom with all his self-justification. Perhaps Sonic hadn't cared about the emerald at all. Perhaps the prize was not his motivation so much as the quest.  
"Freedom." He mouthed the word. His desire, his need, to get out of the garbage and into the world. Unlike his friends, he had always felt a nagging desire to break free of his dreary and redundant lifestyle and, like a caged animal, stretch his legs and run free in the wild. Now, like the circle of life and fate's cruel joke, he found himself picking pockets again in order to reclaim that freedom. And he didn't like it.  
"Hey!" somebody shouted, and it cut through the fun and candy laughter with a resounding tone of fury. Sonic turned to see a very large and angry mobian, a bear by the looks, clutching Tails by both of his namesakes with one huge, hairy fist. Tails had a hold on him in return, clinging to the mobian's wallet, which was attached to his pants via a silver chain. Obviously, the fox had tugged a little to hard on the wrong pocket.  
"You little mongrel!" the victim of his robbery boomed, "The police will deal with you"  
"Hey," Sonic shouted, without any idea what he was going to say next. The bear and the upside-down fox both turned to him, awaiting the next word.  
"Um," the hedgehog continued, "Is this kid giving you trouble"  
"The little beast tried to steal from me"  
"Right," Sonic replied, "Well, he does that. Unfortunately. I mean, he can't stop. Klepto, you see"  
"Klepto?" the bear demanded.  
"Kleptomaniac. He's on medication. Picks up anything that isn't tied down, the wretched little scamp. Sorry about that, took my eyes off him for one second and look what happens"  
"Yeah? Well." The bear, still infuriated (although it seemed as if that was his default emotion) appeared nevertheless satisfied with the explanation, and put Tails down on his head. "Keep a better eye on him"  
He wandered away, and left the two swindlers to themselves. Tails looked up at Sonic, an expression of bewilderment written across his young face.  
"Why did you do that?" he demanded.  
"I probably just saved you from juvinile detention," Sonic replied, "I've been in your position before, Tails Prower. Believe me, recklessness is not an option. Let's just go back and tell your favourite mob boss that we're done for tonight."

"Nails ain't here," Floyd Tabs announced, "He don't have time to be talking to you kids all night." The scarred but impeccably suave persian cat leaned on the church ex-pulpit with a nip of whisky in one hand and a cigarette in the other, moving his eyes back and forth between Sonic and Tails.  
"We've got tonight's score," Sonic announced, "He might wanna know how much richer he is tonight"  
"Pfft," Floyd spat and rolled his eyes. "This stuff's small-time. The boss, he makes ten times as much from his casinos in five minutes"  
"Makes you wonder what the point of it is," the hedgehog commented.  
Floyd smiled and held up his glass. "Monopolising the industry, my small friend, monopolising the industry." He turned to Tails. "Count it. The boss ain't gonna be too pleased if you haven't improved your take tonight. I'm going back to the club, kid, so make sure you lock up when you're done"  
Floyd strolled down the aisle towards the large arched doors, shoes clicking on the rotting wood floor, and left the building with a punctuated slam. All at once, Sonic was alone with the fox in the darkened church turned hideout.  
The hedgehog's attention turned immediately upward. The small key glinted from the rafters in the belfry.  
"What do you reckon are the odds of Nails keeping his promise to give me back my emerald?" he asked.  
"Slim to none," Tails admitted matter-of-factly.  
"That's what I figured"  
Sonic climbed atop the pulpit and felt around for something to take a hold of among the rafters. Testing his weight against the wooden supports, he began to climb, slowly and carefully.  
"What are you doing?" the fox asked.  
"What does it look like?" Sonic moved among a web of interweaving support beams halfway up the shaft of the belfry. The supports began to creak and groan like the woes of the elderly. He tested his weight again on those further above, but thought better of ascending. The key remained at an unachievable altitude. He climbed down again.  
The hedgehog's thoughts turned inevitably to Tails, who was now busy counting the money that the two of them had ripped off from an unsuspecting public.  
"Hey... you could reach that key, couldn't you"  
The fox looked up at him, question in his eyes. "What"  
"I saw when I was chasing you, heck, you can fly almost as well as Nails can. You could zip up there and get that key for me, just like that"  
Tails shrugged. "Probably. That doesn't mean I'm going to"  
"Aw come on. I did a favour for you"  
Tails, counting coins, looked up again. "I doubt what you did for me is worth as much as that emerald"  
"True," Sonic replied, "But then again, you're never going to see any of that cash, now are you"  
Tails didn't reply, opting instead to focus his attention (or at least pretend to) on what he was doing. His twin appendages twitched. Sonic, defeated, sat down on one of the pews and let out a dramatic sigh. The church bathed in silence for a while, as though in prayer. Tails' coins clinked rhythmically.  
"I saw you in Mobitropolis the other day," Sonic said at last.  
"Oh?" Tails didn't look up.  
"Yeah. You were going through my dumpster at some insane hour. Woke me up. I shouted at you"  
Now he caught the fox's attention. "That was you"  
"Yep"  
"You live in a garbage can"  
"That's right. You think I don't know what you're going through, but I do. I've been low, I've been so low that it's hard to think of a reason to wake up in the morning. It's a hard life"  
"You got that right," Tails replied"  
"Life doesn't have to be hard, Tails. That's something I've learned"  
"Oh, sure. This city's just overflowing with potential for a nobody who can't even steal to save his life"  
"I said the same thing once," Sonic said, "I would have told you the same thing a week ago. But then somebody pointed out that, for somebody without any purpose in this world, I sure have some unusual talents"  
"Talent," Tails smirked, "Yeah. You're quick. So what? All it does is help you steal better, right? Where does that get you? You stay on the street"  
"Potentially, sure. But one day, fate is gonna throw you a lifeline, and you have to watch out for it. Your useless talent might just be the one thing that can save the day"  
"What the heck are you talking about?" The fox had stopped counting money entirely.  
"Well, imagine for a moment," Sonic went on, "Imagine you have some useless talent that allows you to reach high places. You don't know where it came from and you don't know why you have it, and it doesn't seem to help you get anywhere in life anyway. You don't consider yourself unique at all. Then, one night, you meet somebody who has a problem. A lot of innocent people are going to lose their lives unless he is somehow able to reach something in a high place. Suddenly, your talent has meaning, doesn't it? If you were just an average joe, you know that all those people would be doomed"  
"So I'm supposed to sacrifice myself, is that right?" Tails asked, "Because, you know, if I helped you get that key, Nails would either shoot me or drive me out of town, and both options mean death for me"  
"Surely there's another way. Something you can do"  
"Well there isn't, okay?" The fox's face knotted up into a scowl. "This might not be the best life, but it's secure. Being Nails' punching bag is a lot better than being his enemy"  
"Then come with me," Sonic said, and at once he questioned himself for blurting it out. Tails certainly seemed shocked at the offer, and the hedgehog wondered if bringing a nihlistic juvenile delinquent along for the ride was the best course of action for his mission. All at once he realised that Tails didn't possess many flaws that he himself hadn't been burdened with before his chance meeting with Kethriel and his Freedom Fighters.  
"What?" the fox asked, "What the heck do you have to go back to? Street crime in Mobitropolis"  
"I don't know," Sonic replied, "But I know a group, I'm certain that they would help you. You could live free of street gangs and police, no more stealing either. Three square meals a day"  
"Forget it." Tails shook his head. "Stop trying to help me. I'm fine here. My Dad died trying to keep me alive, I'm not going to do something stupid and get killed just because some hedgehog came along and told me to"  
"Your Dad?" Sonic asked, "I thought you didn't remember your Dad"  
Tails looked at him, and Sonic thought he could see tears welling up in the young fox's eyes. It was clear that, behind the stone cold street facade, he was just a frightened child, as was more than understandable. Quite possibly it was the first time that anybody had genuinely tried to help him, at least since his father.  
"I remember..." The fox sniffled but tried to cover it up. "I remember that I loved him"  
"This isn't the life that he would have chosen for you," Sonic assured him, "I've seen the way Nails treats you. He barely acknowledges you as it is. It's dangerous for you here, you shouldn't have to face this alone"  
Tails closed his eyes for a long time, so long that Sonic thought for a moment that he might actually have fallen asleep. Then, a single tear traced a path along the length of the young fox's snout.  
"You better not be tricking me," he said, "If you do, and I wind up dead, then it's on your hands"  
"I'm not," Sonic replied.  
"I'll do it. But you have to promise that you'll take me away from here. I mean, far away. And that I'll have a better life than this. Promise"  
"I will"  
"Promise me"  
"I promise"  
Tails stared at him in the eyes, scrutinising his face. He was slow to trust anyone, it seemed, but anxious for somebody deserving of that trust. All at once he sniffled and climbed on top of the table. "Curse you," he rasped under his breath, and leaped into the air. The table fell over with the thrust of his feet, notes, coins and stolen wallets alike making a loud mess on the mouldy floorboards. The fox spun his twin tails like rotor blades, a motion that he had clearly perfected through practice until it was as second nature as running was for Sonic. The tails, of course, tangled together after only a few orbits, so they provided him just enough lift for short bursts upward, enough to allow him to reach the wooden supports, which he held onto while he 'reloaded' his rear-end helicopter. It was a bizarre, almost surreal thing to observe, this fox half-climbing half-flying up the belfry with limbs and appendages flailing. He had almost vanished into the dark when something tiny and metallic came tumbling back down. The small key landed with a modest tinkle at Sonic's feet. As if to show off, Tails ascended further and rapped his knuckles on the church bell. 'Bonggg-g-g-g.  
Sonic picked up the key as Tails climbed down. "Thank you!" he called up the belfry, and moved towards the safe.  
Nails' safe was a small iron box embedded behind something which was once a painting of an angel, and was once beautiful. Deterioration had had its way with it just as it had with everything else in the abandoned church, and with one final blasphemy the mould and rot ate away the paint and left an image that reminded Sonic more of the angels of the underworld. He pushed the morbid picture aside and unlocked the safe. Instantly a vibrant red glow greeted him, the Chaos Emerald appearing almost happy to be free of its prison. Sonic reached in and retrieved it, half expecting some kind of steel trap to take his hand off. It didn't, and the emerald returned to him easily.  
Tails approached him, his weary face fully visible under the emerald's illuminating light. The face of a young boy stripped bare of his illusions, desperate to reclaim his lost childhood. Sonic looked into that face and made a vow to himself, then and there, that he would protect this child. Finally a verification that there was something more important than his own interests riding on this mission. Innocence had a face.  
"Well well well," Nails the Bat said, and his voice echoed throughout the ex-church, for he stood at the doorway, flanked by his cronies. Tails hid any trace of shock, but his hand found Sonic's, perhaps moving independent of his brain's commands, and squeezed tightly.  
"Back so soon," Sonic said, for there wasn't much else to say. The situation was far beyond excuses.  
"I guess it's lucky that I am," Nails replied, "Just in time to find you thrusting the knife into my back. That really hurts." He smiled, dagger-teeth and fangs lending a macabre edge to the expression. "Tails. My boy. I raised you, I gave you work, I gave you everything. Now I find your hand in the till with this weirdo? I might have raised you as a scoundrel, Tails, but never as a betrayer"  
"Well, you told me I was ready for the big time," Tails explained, squeezing Sonic's hand harder, "But you kinda screwed me on the emerald deal. I figured I was ready for the big time after all. What bigger score than Nails the Bat"  
"Then you are a scoundrel after all," Nails replied. He calmly plucked a cigar out of his breast pocket, bit off the end, and lit it up. He sucked hard, then exhaled, putting the lighter away and staring with monumental contempt at the thieves at his safe. "Biting off the hand that feeds you. Nice. It's almost like you believe you're going to get away with it"  
"It's just like you said, Nails," Sonic announced, "If you get robbed, it's your own fault. You only lose what you deserve to lose"  
"True," the bat admitted, "Very true. I'm glad to have made an impression on you. I'm still going to shoot you, though"  
"Fair enough. But you'll only take our lives if we're careless enough to lose them, and I'm pretty sure we both want to get out of this alive. That doesn't leave much for you, sorry to say"  
"That might be true if I didn't have such good aim." Nails, possessed by lightning, thrust his clawed hand somewhere under his coat and withdrew a long-barrelled pistol, firing it several times before anybody even noticed him reaching for it. Sonic didn't see Nails ahead of him, though, he only saw Kethriel, and instead of a tumbledown church, he stood in the Great Forest flanked by trees. This was not a toy gun, however, and his aggressor was not testing him. Not only this, but he was not alone, he had more than his own body to protect. Sonic's mind, for the briefest of moments, caught up with the phenomenal speed of his reflexes, and he thought for that split second that he could actually see the bullets as they traced their way through the air toward him. He hit a freeze time of his own in those few moments, but from then it was all movement, all action.  
Sonic's hand must, at some stage, have closed around Tails'. He dragged the fox behind him as he ran, but his passenger never touched the ground after he left it. He realised in the back of his mind that the fox's tails were spinning and he was almost parasailing in the rear. Sonic dodged the bullets at a hair's width and ran straight towards Nails, whose own reflexes allowed him no time to react. At some stage, though Sonic was never sure when exactly, both hedgehog and fox left the ground together, and in the process of running in midair, Sonic kicked Nails square in the jaw. Sonic and Tails hit the ground before the bat did.  
Then, they were running together, the emerald held out ahead of them like a beacon. Onward they fled, hedgehog and fox, towards an uncertain tomorrow.

The neon wonderland of Casinopolis was a colourful temptation for those who wanted to lose themselves, and Sonic and Tails were determined to lose themselves. They fled into the bright lights, hoping that the city would receive them and offer them shelter. But the city was owned by Nails the Bat, and it did not prove welcoming toward its master's betrayers.  
The streets were still crowded at what must have been the early hours of the morning, and the fugitives edged into this crowd, trying to vanish. The furious shouts of the once defeated gangsters could still be heard somewhere behind them.  
They slipped into a casino at some point, one of Nails' own investments, and the cold street vanished in exchange for bright red tapestries, gold carpet and green tables with cards and dice tumbling about them. When they pushed through the entrance, a guard shouted in surprise, but quickly lost them to the crowd.  
The wheel of fortune spun around, and the ball inside sounded like a bullet sliding through a gun barrel. It was their own fortunes that the wheel told, now. Life or death. Escape or capture. Roll up, roll up, ladies and gentlemen place your bets please. High rollers only, we're betting with lives.  
There was a shriek from somewhere in the casino. It wasn't a shriek of excitement, but one of terror. It was followed by others. Sonic turned his head to see people running, now. The casino was full of mobians running and tripping in a mass panic, and through the crowd he caught a glimpse of Nails, gun cocked and trigger happy. His face was bloodied, his eyes wide and ablaze.  
"Get down!" Sonic commanded, and the two refugees ducked behind a roulette table. The ball flicked out of the wheel and dropped to the golden carpet in front of them, rolling to a stop.  
Nails fired his gun into the air, and the gun spoke a language that everybody understood, for the casino fell suddenly and morbidly silent. Most people dropped to the ground and covered their heads, a protective reflex.  
The bat, remarkably, was grinning again. Those nail-teeth were clearly visible in his bloodied maw. His eyes, however, were not compatible with that smile. It was a strange kind of double-expression that masked a powerful inner fury. One of his hands clutched at his jaw, and the other held on to his long-barrelled weapon.  
"Ladies and gentlemen," Nails announced, "I'm sorry to have to interrupt your night. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for choosing Mercury Casino for your gambling purposes, and sincerely hope that tonight's experience does not negatively impact on your future enjoyment of the facility, and so on and so forth. That said, I'm afraid that there are those among you who are in desperate need of dying tonight"  
Nails walked slowly through the brightly lit casino, and there was no longer any sound, except for the clicking of the ball inside the wheel of fortune, slowing down to its eventual stop. The silence was sudden and eerie, an anomoly.  
"That's right, ladies and gentlemen," Nails continued, "Two of our punters tonight have decided to place the ultimate bet. They're gambling with their lives. Unfortunately, the odds have been quite significantly stacked against them. It's a pity, because double-or-nothing is not an option here. Will the fools with a deathwish kindly step up"  
Sonic sat on the Chaos Emerald to try and stop its glow from giving them away. It was then that he noticed they weren't alone. Somebody else was sitting behind the table.  
"He's talking about you, isn't he?" He whispered. It was Jude, the weasil from the nightclub, mohawk, suede and all. "If you kids are too young for the club, you're sure as holy heck too young to be in here"  
"We need a way out of here," Sonic whispered, "Quietly and quickly. Any ideas"  
"Aw man, I told you not to mess with these guys, didn't I tell you that?" Jude asked, "Now look what you've gone and done. You need ol' Jude to bail you out again. Follow me"  
The three of them crawled out of sight, keeping behind the tables so as not to be seen. Every door out of the casino was blocked by a well-armed gangster, so the only way to go was deeper inside. A terrified mobian poked her head up to see the three of them crawl past, and Jude put a finger to his lips and gave a wink.  
Nails continued talking as they sneaked past. "I have three lucky bullets," he announced, "Two are reserved for the stupid-looking blue hedgehog and his freak buddy, and the third is for the head of whoever is found protecting them. Stand up now, kids, and I'll make it quick"  
The fugitives made it beyond the bat's line of sight, and ran through a hallway into a kitchen. The staff had already abandoned the area, curious and frightened about the activity in the gaming room. Jude led the others through another door, and they found themselves in a public mens room. There, on the far wall, was a window with a loose grating.  
"Our little secret," Jude admitted, "I've seen it used by fools who don't want to be parted with their money. I'm guessing you guys have a similar problem, am I right or am I right or am I right"  
"Jude," Sonic said, "I don't know why you're helping us, but you've done more good than you know"  
"Hey," he replied, and he cocked his finger-gun with a wink, "I said it before. You got game, kid."

Sonic and Tails left the glimmer and glamour of Casinopolis behind them. Some part of the hedgehog missed it as the lights faded away, and he wondered how his newest companion felt about it. On the other hand, it did seem to be a cesspool masked by a thin layer of excitement, and he rather figured that any feelings of regret were misplaced. There were better adventures ahead of them.  
Silently, Sonic hoped that it was the last time he would have to steal to survive. He hoped it for both of them. While the world was harsh and unforgiving, their lives were what they made of them, and freedom was the reward for those who knew it. They were free, and it was something that Nails and the other gangsters of the world would just have to accept.  
As they walked, the emerald glowed on.


	7. Aquatic Ruin

PROJECT MOBITROPOLIS  
S Peter Davis 

All characters (C) SEGA, Archie and SP Davis 2004.  
Used without permission

* * *

AQUATIC RUIN

"My ancestors didn't leave a map to the emeralds, they weren't that naive," Knuckles said, "But they did leave clues, so in the event that they had to be dug up again, they could be dug up by the right person. I've spent my life trying to decode the messages left behind by the ancients, but it isn't until you showed me where you found the first five that I've discovered the key to the puzzle. I knew about the Temple of the Lagoon, that was an easy one. That was the grey emerald, the controller, the most important. It was supposed to be guarded, but I guess my people didn't count on disappearing the way they did. Now you could just waltz right in and take it"  
"It wasn't quite that easy, Knux," replied Rhes el Carrion, the vulture blowing smoke rings as he spoke, "I lost three good mobians on that expedition. Your forgotten ancestors left some pretty deadly traps before they took off on their extended holiday"  
"Oh, I bet they did," Knuckles commented, "I bet the others were no walk in the park, either"  
"Thrills and chills." The vulture dragged on his cigarette one last time, then dropped it onto the bare red dirt. Ahead of him, gigantic machines churned the soil, digging canyons into the landscape. Hoards of robots worked tirelessly and without want of reward to change the face of Mobius. A mine was being chewed into the planet's crust, violently, and Mobius didn't give itself up easily to the hostility. Every so often the ground would give way and swallow up a dozen workers. It mattered little, of course. As far as robots were concerned, even one death was a statistic.  
Morning was just breaking. The long shadows began to shrink slowly into themselves beneath the power of the waking sun.  
"This is disgusting," Carrion said, "It's about the least delicate archaeological dig I've ever seen. Imagine the history being destroyed here. Thousands of years of relics, smashed under the feet of the almighty Deus Ex Machina"  
Knuckles gave him a sideways glance. "What"  
"God," Carrion replied, "God of the Machines"  
"Oh," the echidna scoffed, "Amen"  
"But you're sure it's here. That's all that matters. All that's left is for Deus Ex to reach in and scoop it out"  
"I think it's here," Knuckles clarified, "Rememeber, you guys came to me. In desperation, I might add. I never offered any promises. All I offer is enlightened opinion. If these... things... rip half of Mobius apart and don't find a thing, it only proves that my people were better at what they did than we all thought"  
The machines dug onward, as though they sought to tunnel to the centre of the world.

The road ahead seemed so straight and so long that it might as well stretch forward into infinity, and if it ever ended at all, that end might be as distant as the furthest stars (or further, for all it mattered). The effect was further perpetuated by tedium.  
Along this road, this narrow freeway, a single utility truck pushed onward. Its cargo consisted of twenty boxes of ripening mangoes, one blue hedgehog and a young two-tailed fox.  
Sonic's feet were snug and at home inside two bright red sneakers, each with a single white stripe along their side, and they eased the ache and pain of his overworked feet; feet which hadn't been put to such considerable use in quite a while. Tails, the hedgehog's newest travelling companion, had seen Sonic's raw and bleeding feet as the sun came up, and as a gesture of mutual trust, and knowing no better, he promptly stole the sneakers from a local shoe store, along with a white and gold pair for himself, and some socks for the road. Sonic accepted the gifts but vowed that they would represent the final criminal act that either of them would commit. From now on, he declared, the only things that they would steal would be Chaos Emeralds.  
Being, however, that old habits tend to die hard, Tails sat on the back of the ute with his face buried deep inside a large mango, its juices soaking and matting down his bright orange fur. He didn't seem to care.  
Sonic was drifting in and out of consciousness as the road's monotone lullaby reminded his body despite his brain that he had slept a total of a few minutes in the past twenty-four hours, and even that was more like a powernap. The road ahead was blocked to his vision, he could only see the road behind them, and as he watched it slide away beneath them with nothing but farms on either side, there was nothing left for him but his own mind, and even his thoughts flirted with irrationality on the edge of dreams as he slipped into one microsleep after another. At one point, he looked at Tails, smiling, and told him that they'd be paying for every mango they devour, so he should take it easy. Tails sulked but agreed. The kid was trying.  
Then Sonic slept a while. He dreamed about snakes, about ghosts and running from the darkness. When he awoke, the ute was stopped at a service station, and the scenery had changed. The driver, an old walrus with one tusk, was asking if he wanted anything from inside.  
"Uh, actually, a soda would be great," he replied, drowsy. "Hey, where are we"  
"We're in Mystic Ruin," the driver replied, "I'm gonna go straight on to Catilina, but there's about four hours o' straight desert between here an' there, so this is the last stop. Might serve ya' well to use the facilities while we're here"  
"No, it's okay," Sonic said, "Mystic Ruin, I think this is where we need to go. There's some ruins nearby, isn't there"  
"Ahyup, that's why they call it Mystic Ruin, oddly enough. Got them old sunken ruins just outta town, big tourist attraction"  
"Sweet. What time is it"  
"Quarter past ten." They had been in transit since seven.  
"We'll get off here. Thanks a lot for the ride. Oh, uh, my friend ate a mango, or two"  
He looked at Tails. The fox was curled in a ball, fast asleep.  
The walrus laughed. "Hey, don't worry. Take a couple fer yourself as well, kid, something to put on your back for the journey."

Prince Martin Acorn looked out upon Mobitropolis with a kind of contempt. The city spread out below him and went about itself as it always had. It did not tremble before him. It did not bow to his undeniable superiority. Things, he considered, were soon to change in that regard.  
In a luxurious study, cooled by the breeze from a window (which, unbeknownst to him, had provided access to a blue hedgehog just a few days earlier) the prince tried to read, to bide his time for the storm that was coming. But time was difficult to bide. His mood was twenty different shades of black.  
The door opened without a knock, which almost frustrated him over the edge, but he retained his composure. It was in his interest to remain composed, just for a few more days.  
Rhes el Carrion entered, the black vulture smiling just enough to be polite. He immediately began to rudely poke and privy around.  
"Close the door," the prince instructed, without looking up from his book.  
Carrion nudged the door shut, but it moved too quickly and slammed, making Martin flinch and tighten his fist.  
"So what's up, then?" Carrion asked, "You had me flown here from half a continent away, so I hope it's not something you could have told me over the phone"  
Prince Martin at last looked up at him. "I lost an emerald"  
"Oh yeah? Well, where's the last place you left it"  
"I- I don't..." the prince sighed, "I don't know, I'm not sure, I think it was in my pocket, but... when I"  
"Well damn," the vulture cackled, "So easy for you bigwigs, isn't it? I work for months, tear half the planet apart, just about bleed out of my ears looking for something that you can just lose, like a pair of socks"  
"It was taken from me!" the prince shrieked all of a sudden, and leaped to his feet, pointing at the vulture as if it were he who were being accused, "Somebody was there, I could hear him breathing! He stalked me in the dark and he took my emerald"  
"Oh yeah?" Carrion said, "What'd this master thief look like"  
"I have... no idea"  
"That helps"  
"You will not speak to me like that!" the prince was enraged again, "I demand respect"  
"Hey, you ain't my king." Carrion shrugged. "I'm an expatriot, remember? I live in a democratic banana republic, I'm just slumming it down south for as long as you're paying me"  
The prince sat down again, an unblinking glare of death on his reddening face. "Nevertheless," he said, "When an emerald goes missing, it becomes your problem, Mr Carrion. And it is a big problem"  
"That's a nice desk," Carrion commented, "Authentic, I believe. Eastern design, not from around here. Fairly recent, though, maybe one-fifty years old, but good condition. That'll get you quite a bit at the auctions, you know"  
"Have you been listening to me"  
"Yeah, I've been listening. It's just that I don't care. You lost one of your stones. It's a tragedy, those are some of the most important antiques on the face of the planet, but ultimately I'm not a treasure hunter, I'm a friggin' archaeologist. If it's under the ground, I'll find it, but if it's on someone's mantlepiece, there's nothing much I can do"  
"Well, you should think about changing your mind in that regard," the prince said, "Whether or not you consider the emeralds to be your personal responsibility, the fact remains that I am paying you to get me seven stones by the end of the week. That is our contract, Mr Carrion. If I have six, or five, or three, or one, then you do not see a red cent. Now, I don't care what has to be done, or who does it. Station Square is a filthy city filled with all manner of disgusting scum, thieves and vermin, and one of them has my emerald. Somebody has to go there and get it back, and it's very much in your interest to make sure that happens"  
Carrion looked at the prince, their eyes locking together for a moment in a battle for dominance. It was a battle that Acorn would assuredly win, for it was he who held all the aces.  
"I guess it is then," the vulture said at last, "Well, maybe I'll go see about that, shall I"  
"Please do," Martin replied, "Please close the door gently on the way out"  
Carrion didn't oblige that courtesy.

Sonic and Tails could easily agree that the aquatic ruin within the desert oasis was an absolutely spectacular vision, and one which would probably stay with them forever. In the morning light, a soft orange glow reflected off the tranquil pools and illuminated the grass, which seemed a brighter green than was even possible. It was very still, and very quiet. The area was deemed a site of major historical significance, and it was off limits to the public. The two of them had to sneak in, which was ultimately not all that difficult.  
The site in all its natural beauty had been discovered in some ancient time by a race of people who had built great marble constructions around and through it. Many of the buildings had collapsed since that time, but it was still a place of exquisite beauty that probably had yet to be fully explored by any mobian since its rediscovery, whenever that might have been. It was a huge site and much of it had sunk into the large lake in the center. A thick forest almost like a jungle obscured a great deal.  
The lake, so clear that it might have been a lake of air, half-swallowed a flat but skewed marble platform, creating a shallow pool. Sonic, seeing this phenomenon, ran ahead and leaped into the water. In doing so, he yelped and thrashed, before bursting out laughing despite a puzzled Tails.  
"It's cold!" Sonic spluttered between chuckles. He began to backstroke in the still water.  
Tails removed his shoes and socks first, and carefully stepped into the water. It was indeed cold, but his body adjusted to the temperature as he immersed himself. When he was comfortable, he began grooming himself, washing the mango juice and dirt out of his fur.  
"Thank heavens," Sonic said, "I've smelled like mega mack ever since my last bath"  
"You sure have," the fox replied, "I didn't have the heart to tell you"  
As Sonic relaxed in the cool, clear water, he found himself constantly glancing at his pack, lying motionless on the ancient marble, a faint red glow from within visible even here. There was nobody around, but he didn't want to take any chances. It only took a moment last time for the emerald to find a new master, and next time he knew he wouldn't be so lucky as to befriend the thief.  
He observed Tails, the child so strange on so many levels. He was young, no more than ten, but well-spoken, witty and intelligent. He was streetwise, as he would surely have to be to have survived, but innocent, more bark than bite. Behind his tough exterior was a child waiting to break free and live. He was small, even for his age. Light, nimble. Two tails, both of them uncharacteristically large and muscular. By all accounts he was more tail than fox.  
The child didn't play, however. He didn't splash about, laugh and swim merrily, didn't enjoy his newfound freedom with kid mirth. He just floated on his back, letting the warm sun heat the white fur of his belly, and seemed either very deep in contemplation or completely without thought at all. He tried to spark up a conversation. "That's a nice set of floor-sweepers you've got there"  
"Huh?" Tails opened one eye.  
"Tails," Sonic replied, "Nice set of tails, Tails"  
"Uh, thanks." The fox sounded insincere.  
"I have to say I'm kinda jealous. I only have the one, and it's sort of just a little spike"  
"Big whooptie-doo," Tails scoffed, "So you're not a freak. You don't get people staring at you all the time, calling out to their friends so that they can join them in mocking you. Girls wouldn't sooner throw up than talk to you. Real tough break"  
"Whoa kid, it ain't all candy and roses being me, either," Sonic said, "This isn't dye, you know. I don't choose to walk around looking like a blueberry"  
"Wow, really? That's natural?" Tails asked.  
"One hundred and twenty percent"  
"Yeah, well, that's not so bad. It even looks... kinda cool. People think I'm retarded, they talk to me slowly like I can't understand them. Some aid worker tried to enrol me in a special school once"  
Sonic chuckled. "Yeah, well, people think I'm a punk or something. Old people avoid me on the street. You should see them, I tried to ask this old lady for the time once and she almost beat me to death with her handbag"  
Now Tails laughed, just a giggle, but it was the first time Sonic had heard him do it. As the fox grew more comfortable with his presence, he betrayed his inner child's security more and more. It was like unearthing a fossil.  
"But you're really quick too, right?" he asked, "I mean, I saw you move back in Station Square. That's why they call you Sonic, isn't it"  
Sonic shrugged. "I guess. It's the only name I've ever known. I couldn't even remember it until recently. I can only remember the last two years or so of my life, everything before that is kind of a blur"  
Tails appeared sincerely interested, now. "Whoa, really? What's that, amnesia or something"  
"I dunno. Bosley told me- oh, that's a friend of mine back in Mobitropolis- He told me that sometimes the mind will deliberately block out memories of really traumatic events. Like, a defense mechanism. I have these recurring nightmares every time I sleep, more than ever just recently, and I think they're fragments of my past trying to break through. It's not pretty, whatever it is. To be honest, I'm really not sure I want to remember. It's not that important to me right now where I'm from, I'd rather just focus on where I'm going"  
"What do you dream about?" Tails asked.  
Sonic shrugged. "Snakes. Running. People yelling at me, like, yelling commands at me. I can't see who they are"  
"Your parents"  
He shook his head. "No. Not them. I don't know who my parents are, but it's not them. These guys are monsters. They keep snakes. Red and blue snakes. I keep seeing these snakes wrapped up together like this." He tried to draw a picture of it in the air - two squiggly lines overlapping each other.  
"Weird," Tails commented, "Really weird"  
"What about you, kid? I'm assuming that Tails isn't your real name"  
"Well... no, but my real name sucks. You don't wanna know"  
"Try me," Sonic said.  
Tails looked the hedgehog over, as if trying to figure out if he was trustworthy. It took courage, this business of sharing secrets. The fox seemed to cross a barrier of openness with his response.  
"Don't laugh"  
"I won't"  
"Miles," he said, and sighed.  
"Miles? What's wrong with Miles"  
"What, are you kidding?" Tails replied, "Miles Prower? It sounds like a measurement of velocity. Think about it"  
"Oh yeah!" Sonic started laughing, "Hey, that's neat"  
"I said don't laugh, you stupid jerk!" Tails cried, and splashed him. He was laughing as well, now, as they assaulted each other with water.

Princess Sally Acorn confronted her brother many times over the course of his rebellion, and she prepared to do so again now. It was a difficult matter, talking to the jaded Crown Prince without giving away the fact that she knew full well what he was up to. It was, after all, probably not beneath him to panic in such a situation and decide to have her disposed of. If he planned to usurp his own father, it was surely within his ability to throw his sister down the same chute. Being that she was also the covert leader of the Freedom Fighters, she had more to lose than her life. When siblings both have such considerable secrets to keep from each other, conversation tends to be limited.  
Sally rapped daintily on the prince's door (Rhes el Carrion had slammed it so hard that it bounced right open again) and Martin did not look up, instead holding his head as if he had a migraine headache.  
"Martin," she ventured.  
"Go away," the prince replied, "I'm not in the best of moods"  
"Father wanted me to fetch you," Sally continued, "He wishes to address the parliament tomorrow, and he wants us both to be there"  
"He wants you to be there," Martin snapped, "He wants his little Queen to be by his side when he announces that he's selling the future of Mobitropolis short"  
"I'm not going to argue with you, Martin. I'm still hoping that you can find a way to accept whatever Father decides about the future of the kingdom"  
"Democracy?" Martin spat the word from his throat as if it tasted bitter to him. He looked down at the book he had been reading, a textbook of some kind, and calmed himself with some effort.  
"If that is the will of the kingdom, then yes"  
"How much do you know about history?" he asked.  
"I've received all the same tutoring that you have," she replied.  
"Yes," Martin said, "But you probably haven't done the extra research, have you? History, it's a passion of mine as you know. I love trailing the evolution of society, especially of this kingdom. There are some very interesting little events throughout history that you wouldn't even know about unless you scrutinised enough textbooks. You probably don't know, for example, that within a period of about fifteen months, around three hundred and twenty years ago, the Acorn monarchy actually collapsed"  
Sally looked her brother in his reddened eyes, trying to discern his point. "No, I hadn't known that," she replied.  
"Of course not," Martin said, "It's censored in most historical accounts. It reveals weakness in the power of the monarchy's control. Researchers don't like to admit that it even happened. But it did. An insignificant underground faction of so-called freedom fighters grew out of control." Sally involuntarily twitched at the mention of the term 'freedom fighters', and hoped her brother hadn't noticed it. She wondered if he might even know about her, but reckoned that he would be more blunt if he did.  
Martin continued, "They somehow managed to bubble up through the cracks of society and, probably due to a random moment of synchronised incompetance on behalf of the palace guards, the rebels managed to storm the palace and take the throne. The monarch - a queen, I might add - was forcibly deposed, and the rebels expelled the entire royal family. Now, they had a clever idea for a new government form, a classless society where everybody had an equal position amongst mobians, regardless of race, creed or ability. Of course, this society needed to be governed, so the idea was that the government was to be elected by the people. The people were going to rule themselves, and everybody was going to have an equal chance to make it in life. And do you know what happened to this utopian paradise"  
"No," Sally replied.  
Martin slammed the book closed with a resonating clap, making her flinch. "It fell to pieces!" he shrieked, "It crumbled, it imploded, like a house of cards, Sally. It failed, in every respect. The people immediately elected a panel of idiots, whoever was more popular, whoever could conduct the most whimsical and persuasive campaign was installed to lead this once mighty nation, and the imbeciles came up with some weak plan to give everybody an equal pay and an equal position in society. So guess what? Nobody worked! They didn't have to! They were being paid whether they worked or not, so they chose not to. In fact, not even the politicians could be bothered working, so the chain of fools decided that the politicians should be paid more than everyone else, for the sake of sustaining cohesion within the government. That was the end of the classless society, wasn't it? All of a sudden there was an elite upper class, of which everyone wanted to be a part, and a massive lower class, which went about demolishing the system from the inside. It was like dominos, the industry fell, which brought down the economy, which brought down the standard of living, which brought down morale, which brought down integrity, which almost brought down Mobitropolis. Such was the desire to join the upper class that the greediest and most desperate mobians of society went to ridiculous lengths to be elected to a position of power, which led to a massive influx of corruption so strong that the government couldn't even operate. In a little over a year, the people were so desperate for the solidarity of the former monarchy, that the Acorns practically walked back into power. They just had to blow on the people's government, and it flew into the wind like it was made of dust. That's your democracy, Sally"  
The princess was unsure of what to say. Her brother certainly knew history. "That's an extreme case," she said, "It's hardly the fate of every self-governing body"  
"You're blind, then," Martin said, "And weak. The people cannot govern themselves, it's a contradiction. They need authority. What they need is to be commanded. If they have orders to follow, then they are content. If not, then they have nothing to live for. It's simple psychology. The problem, sister, lies with the lower class. Since our father has been in power, and since he's introduced this democratic parliament to question and sway his decisions, unemployment has grown, have you noticed? In fact, the only time it's ever been higher was during these fifteen months of rebellion. It's starting again, Sally, and it needs to be stopped. Already we have mobians living on the streets, pickpockets and theives, with no ambition but to drain this kingdom dry. Something has to be done about them. Something has to be done about this worrying trend away from sanity. There lies the problem, Sally. One of us knows this, and one of us doesn't. One of us is going to take this kingdom into the next half century." He smiled, but it was a devilish smile, more of a crooked grin that Sally had never seen him produce before. It frightened her. Martin was growing less like the brother she knew through her entire life as time went by. She wondered who had fed him such intense propaganda, it seemed contrary to everything they had learned growing up, and yet it was so powerful that it was twisting him into something she didn't even recognise. It was at this moment that she realised there were mighty forces outside the prince's own mind working on him, and had been for some time.  
"Martin," she said, "I want you to know that, no matter what happens... I love you. You always used to be there for me, do you remember"  
His crooked smile faded. Something familiar returned to his eyes, something that had been clouded and missing for years. "Yes," he replied, "I remember"  
"I don't think those days will ever return. We'll only ever be on worse terms with each other"  
The cloud returned over the prince, and his eyes narrowed. "Until you cease your childish dreams, I'm afraid so. It saddens me, it really does. But I will persue my beliefs at all costs, you must realise this. I'm right, and you'll come to know it in time"  
Sally nodded sadly, and turned to leave. She was half way out the door before he called her name. She turned around again, and her brother was reading again, not looking up at her.  
"I love you too," he said. She smiled and left him to his machinations.

"So why are we here?" Tails asked, "We're not just making a pit-stop, are we"  
"Not exactly," Sonic replied. He was exploring a half-sunken marble palace of some kind, hopping from brick to brick like stepping stones in the lake. A forest of columns jutted out of the water around him, all of them leaning. Whatever they had held up had crumbled over the passage of time, but the columns, unaware of this fact (blind as they were) went about their job unabated. "We're looking for another emerald"  
"Another one?" Tails exclaimed, "Like the red one? There are others"  
"Yeah. Look here"  
He opened his pack and took out the map that Kethriel had provided him. There were five crosses marked. "See, that's Station Square," Sonic said, pointing, "That's where I found the first. The next closest is here, Mystic Ruin. After that, we'll head off to this one. That should be... over in that direction." He pointed toward the mountains, which were just visible through a break in the trees.  
"But why?" Tails asked, "What do you want them for"  
"I don't want them. They can stay buried, for all I care. It's someone else who wants them, I'm trying to stop them from getting them"  
"This doesn't make any sense," the fox said, and looked up at the hedgehog with an eyebrow cocked and a distrustful expression, "You're not crazy or something, are you"  
"No," Sonic replied, "I'm kind of on an espionage mission. I was sent out here... I was sent by a kind of resistance movement. The Prince of Mobitropolis is organising a coup on the throne, he's building a satellite that can turn the whole lower class of the city into robots, and he needs the emeralds to power it"  
Tails retained his worried expression. Sonic smiled a little. "What"  
"That's the craziest story I've ever heard," the fox said, "I don't think I believe you"  
"Believe what you want, but it's all true. The princess told me herself"  
"Oh right. You met Princess Sally and she sent you on a mission to save everybody. You, a homeless kid living in a trash disposal"  
"Fastest darn homeless kid on Mobius," Sonic corrected him.  
They continued their banter for a while, but Sonic hushed his companion when he heard voices. The sound was out of place in the tranquil setting, and any company out here was probably a bad thing, being that they were trespassing.  
The voices came from behind a stone wall, and Sonic climbed it to get a better view. As it turned out, the other side of the wall was a lot lower than the side he was on, like a cliff, and he thanked his lucky stars that he hadn't simply leaped over it like a hurdle straight to the grave. The voices carried from half a dozen figures in a grass clearing below. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he recognised one of the figures almost immediately. Bulbous body, spherical head, fiery handlebar moustache and spectacles in eye-craters, this was Ivo Robotnik, Minister for Science in Mobitropolis.  
"What's happening?" Tails asked, poking his head over the wall.  
"Shh." Sonic squinted, a hand over his eyes to shield them from the glare.  
Robotnik was discussing something with three other mobians, rangers by the look of them, and they were listening intently to him. It was a one-way conversation, as though they were taking orders. Sonic couldn't make out what he was saying, and he closed his eyes to concentrate on the sound of the professor's voice. When he opened them again, Robotnik was looking in his direction.  
"Crap!" Sonic exclaimed, and fell backwards off the wall. The hedgehog's fall was ill-directed, and he dropped like a stone into the lake.  
"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed. Sonic, spines and limbs tangled in his backpack, flailed for a hold on the marble block that constituted a platform, but his grip slipped easily on the mossy stone, and never having learned how to swim (or even having set foot in deep water before) his attempts at staying afloat were futile. He struggled for a hold on anything after he went under. The water was crystal clear, but all he could see was green, the glistening moss-covered marble all around him. He bobbed, gasped for air, went under again. As he moved his body around under the water, he saw something that caught his attention. Deep under him, deep deep under, was a whole new world. In the dark, he could make out houses, temples and roads. Somebody had walked along those roads long ago, their shoes clicking on the stone pavement. There was a statue in this sunken world, a statue of a mobian, moss-covered and worn, a mobian with long dreadlocks draping from its large almond-shaped head. It was forlorn and anguished, and it stared up at him with a haunting expression of hopelessness. Sonic closed his eyes and let the darkness take him.

"She's the finest machine what ever flew, she is," the stork in the overalls assured him, and Packbell had little doubt that he told the truth. "One of the wonders of the industrial world, she is. The jewel of my collection, she is. I've got flying machines from all corners of the world, but she's the mother of them all"  
"Sounds like you'll have trouble letting her go," Packbell commented.  
"Well yeah, there's that," the stork replied, "But it makes me kinda happy, too. I think she wants to be up there again, in the wide blue yonder, soaring above it all. I think it's good that she has a chance to be put to good use again. Kinda gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside me, it does"  
The hangar doors opened at his command, slowly and labouriously. This was no ordinary hangar, though. Dozens of domed buildings littered this valley, but only this one held worth to Packbell. The suspense ran thick as the light began to fall upon its contents.  
"After the ban on technology, of course she was grounded," the stork explained, "They didn't know what to do with her, they was going to dismantle her, they was. Then my Dad bought her, and as long as he didn't try to fly her he was allowed to keep her here. I inherited her as well as the collection, of course"  
"Is it in working order?" Packbell asked.  
"Should be. I mean, haven't been able to fly her and find out, been sitting here for fifty years, she has, but my Dad and I have kept her in fine condition, kept the rust away and all that. She should be up and away, no problem at all. Man and gosh, would I love to see her fly out of here, fly free as she's supposed to"  
The door opened all the way, and the hangar's contents came into view. It was a massive craft, the airborne equivalent of an ocean liner. Monsterous propellers and thrusters lined its broad wings. How such a fortress could take to the skies was a miracle of science, but apparently it did so, and did it well.  
"Here she is," the stork announced, "The H.M.S. Flying Battery, pride of the Mobitropolis air force, pre Android Wars"  
Packbell studied the winged fortress with a professional's eye. A good amount of the palace rebellion's secret budget had been spent purchasing this mighty piece of machinery for the prince's personal military. The Battery once dominated the skies over Mobitropolis, and nothing had ever been able to touch it. For a behemoth over sixty years old, it appeared to be in decent working condition. A genuine living relic of Mobius' last great technological age.  
"I think we can do business," Packbell announced.

Sonic drifted through the water, semiconscious and delirious. He couldn't see ahead in the darkness, but then he couldn't see much of anything anymore. He knew nothing but the sound beating through the recesses of his mind. A countdown.

t minus eight

As it counted down, he pondered. Snakes lay eggs, don't they? Perhaps that's what the mother hen was. Not a hen at all but a snake. A gigantic coiled snake, slithering through the vastness of space, just waiting for its abominable child to incubate. A blue snake, or a red one. Perhaps two snakes, coiled together in that ladder-shape, just waiting to lay one giant egg, big enough to destroy Mobius. An egg represents new life, but this is no ordinary egg. It is a death egg. When the death egg hatches, only chaos spills forth. Chaos spills forth, just

t minus seven

like it did before, all those years ago. The red people, all decorated in gold and silver, running away from (the death egg?) from (snakes?) from some beast that hid out of sight, it changed shape somehow, it... it... wasn't... possible, it defied possibility, it wasn't a snake but something... it makes the mind hurt, it makes it ache

t minus six

It doesn't matter. The beast is gone now. It's in the emeralds. Chaos is in the emeralds now, it has saturated them, twisted them, they seek the evil, they seek it like they desire to be with it forever, because it's a part of them. Why do the red people still run? No, no it isn't them, they're not running,

t minus five

it's Sonic who's running, he's running, he's running and the Master is standing next to him and commanding him to run and he must or he will be punished and it hurts where they poke him and he's running but not moving he isn't going anywhere he's running in one place and it's killing him

t minus four, sonic

and the Master is laughing is laughing at his pain and the Death Egg is launching and his friends are dying they're dying the king is dying and the snakes are laughing the red people are dying the emeralds are laughing and Chaos is roaring and Sonic is running

t minus three, sonic, hurry

and he can't make it in time because the Egg is hatching and he's so fast he's the fastest thing alive but oh God he's not going anywhere he's running on the spot and the red people are crying out to him

t minus two sonic hurry hurry up

and they are all dying every one the egg is hatching death the chaos the fury the death the machine the fate the death he's not moving he's not moving he's not moving he's not moving

t minus one sonic hurry hurry hurry just

just

run.

Sonic realised that he was screaming and that screaming meant that he wasn't under the water anymore. He drew a long, painful breath and promised to never take the air for granted again. When he opened his eyes, though, the sunshine was gone. Not night, but shelter. He was in some kind of cave. The air was stale and old, like the smell of parchment. It wasn't completely dark, however, as there was a soft glow emitted from an unknown place.  
His legs hurt. He'd been kicking them while he dreamed, his body trying to run, trying to answer the command of the cruel force in his nightmare. Hands down, he'd just experienced the worst nightmare he could ever remember having. It felt as though there was somebody chipping away at a wall in his brain. His memories were spilling out like a tidal wave of pain, and all he could do was brace himself for the onslaught. He liked that wall, he wanted to keep it there. He didn't want to remember.  
Part of his nightmare wasn't memory, however. He knew his memories because they gave him a feeling of de'ja'vu, things he had felt and seen before. The snakes were in his past, the running, the cruel master, all of it repressed. Then there were the red people, who were new. It was the first time he'd seen them in his head or elsewhere. Them, and the mysterious monster who changed shape and couldn't be seen. Some foreign imagination, infiltrating his memories and reducing them to absurdity.  
The cavern was quiet but for the lapping of the water at its marble coastline. Sonic was wet and cold, it occured to him that his backpack had been submerged again and whatever wasn't damaged by the mega mack in Station Square was probably lost to him now.  
"Great," he croaked, and he broke into a coughing fit. He had taken some water into his lungs, he supposed that another minute in the water and it would have been a corpse that washed up in this tunnel. Composing himself, he looked around, his eyes having adjusted to the dim light. The glow that enabled his sight seemed to eminate from hundreds of tiny points dotted randomly in the marble walls. Squinting, he tried to figure out what strange ancient technology might cause such an effect. What he found were tiny stones embedded in the walls, little jewel shards like glitter. Sonic became mildly concerned that they were radioactive, but each seemed to glow a different colour, and the glow was exactly the same, he realised, as that of the Chaos Emeralds.  
There were engravings on these walls. He couldn't quite make them out in the dimness, but they were numerous and seemed to tell a grand story of some kind.  
(the red people... this was their legacy)  
Delirious from his brush with death, Sonic could have sworn that the crystals in the walls were whispering to him, but whispering directly into his mind. It was a creepy supposition, and he decided that he didn't want to spend any more time than he had to inside this aquatic ruin.  
He began to walk down the tunnel with haste. His interest wandered, though. The markings on the walls fascinated him more than they rightly should.  
(they left this place, left it to rot, let it sink into the lagoon)  
More than once he caught himself standing at one of the carvings, his hand tracing its outline, fingers trembling as they ran across the stone.  
(no)  
Sonic fell to his knees. His head swimming, his heart beating strong. He moaned and tried to come to his senses. How much air was in this temple? More to the point, what was the composition of what he was breathing now? Had a single mobian even set foot inside this temple for a thousand years? (since the red people?) He pulled himself up and began walking even faster, almost jogging, his eyes firmly closed to as to resist the temptation of the carvings. He sensed light and in reflex his eyes blinked open. He was at the end of the tunnel and he had reached some kind of slanted chamber, illuminated by millions of the little glowing shards. It was an eerie mouve light, and strange mists filled the room, parting as he neared. It smelled musty and rotten, with a certain perfumed undertone, barely noticable under the decay. He could barely see cracks in the ceiling, which slowly dripped water. Such dripping would crumble this entire construction before too long. The damage might have been caused by recent reckless excavation, or simply by natural erosion, but relatively soon these preserved tunnels would be lost to the ages, swept away by the slow choke of the lagoon.  
There was a huge mural on the far wall, the marble floor too steeply slanted to reach it. The glowing illuminated the image just enough to be visible with some effort. Sonic couldn't tell exactly what it was, but it had nasty implications for him. His mind, plagued with strange images, seemed to fear it. All he could make out was the image of a beast of some kind, a dragon or something of the like. He stared at it until his head hurt, and he had to snap out of it and decide where to go next. The only way, he supposed, was up.  
It took some effort to make his way to the steep tunnels of the far side of the chamber. His rogue mind frightened him by imagining that the entire temple might be dislodged by his movements and fall to the bottom of the lagoon, burying him. And why was he calling it a lagoon, now? Where had he seen that term used? Wasn't it self-evident, though? This was the Temple of the Lagoon after all. Where was this knowledge coming from? Had he heard any of this, or was the temple warping his mind somehow?  
He was frightened, now. This place was too eerie. Although he detected no malevolence from the crystals in the wall, they whispered to him like ghosts, making him very aware of how alone he was. He wished, at least, that Tails was with him.  
The darkness was all-encompassing, now. The crystals weren't so numerous in number, and the mist seemed to close in around him. He knew not where he was going, the crystals seemed to be guiding him. Did he even have any control at all over his movements through the tunnels, or was the temple both navigator and pilot?  
(watch out for the snakes, sonic, you will know them before long)  
The walls whispered to him, intimately, like lovers' secrets.  
(watch out for the snakes, watch out for ol' mecha red-eyes, he wants your head)  
He didn't know what any of the whispers meant, but at the same time it seemed to be simple common sense disguised as something cryptic.  
(the seven chaos are called to evil like moths to a flame)  
"Shut up!" Sonic shouted into the darkness. His voice echoed off the walls, and although it didn't stop the whispers, it did bring the lost element of reality back into the situation. He realised that he was shouting at rocks, and that their whispers were in his mind. They must have been. The knowledge gave him strength, and he regained control over his movements. He was in another chamber, he noticed. The ground had reverted to something close to level, and he stood in the small, round room, trying to think.  
There was a pedestal before him. An elaborately decorated stone lay on top of it, a statuette of some kind. A slim, dreadlocked mobian of indeterminate race.  
(for the palace)  
It was a thing of beauty, so delicately carved. No doubt a priceless relic, soon to be destroyed with the rest of this deteriorating ruin. Perfectly preserved, for now.  
(you will face peril in the heavens)  
So taken with the object's beauty was he that he barely even noticed having picked it up. This action stopped the temple's whispers instantly, like switching off a radio. The sudden silence was almost as frightening as the whispers themselves had been, and he froze as stiff as the stone around him. He found, though, that the whispers had not stopped at all, they had merely decided all to agree on one faint word that fell upon his mind like raindrops, ever so softly, again and again.  
(run)  
He thought he felt a mild vibration in the stone of the temple, but he'd shrugged it off as another illusion. But now the mists parted and dissolved, a very faint breeze sucking them away. Something cold brushed Sonic's feet and he saw that it was water. A tiny flood like the rising of the tide was trickling down the slanted tunnel.  
(run)  
Nothing outwardly threatening, but Sonic knew its horrible implications. The removal of the statuette had apparently been a bad idea. The inner workings of the temple had shifted somehow, probably to activate some kind of ancient trap. The trap had failed, but the movement had been enough to widen the cracks in the temple's walls, and the lagoon was finally having its way with the antiquated construction. The movement of the air was significant, now, as the air was being sucked out to make way for the incoming water. He could hear it rushing, now, the chamber with the dragon mural was crumbling under the fury of it.  
(RUN)  
He did run, now. The water was rising around his ankles. He ran away from the torrent, downward, into the darkness. The crystals in the walls throbbed, and Sonic wondered if they were as frightened as he was. A bizarre thought.  
The water swept him up, now. He lost his footing and banged his coccyx on the tunnel floor as he fell backward, crying out in pain. The stream rushed around him, and before he could pick himself up, it attained enough strength to take him with it. He slid down the increasingly slanted tunnel like a macabre waterslide, hitting the curves hard. One collision took some skin off his elbow, another grazed his forehead, dazing him momentarily. The ride became more violent, and he knew that, if it lasted much longer, the collisions would begin to break his bones. Relief, however, came as he was dragged into a body of water. It was rising from beneath as the stream from above filled it. Orienting himself quickly, Sonic knew that he would have to swim for it. Remembering that his last attempt at swimming had been a catastrophic failure, he made certain not to let panic cloud his senses. The hedgehog aimed downward, into the darkness, cupped his hands, and started kicking. As luck would have it, the sneakers that Tails had given him seemed to help propel him. His swimming style was his own invention, but it seemed to work. Before too long he reached an opening into the lagoon. Water was rusing through it, barricading his exit, but he found something to grip onto, and with some effort, pulled his body against the torrent.  
The fight wasn't over yet, but it got easier as he went on. He tried to make his way towards the surface, but first he turned back to see the building from the outside.  
It was a huge step-pyramid, nestled among smaller submerged temples and large statues of seated mobians, all dreadlocked and grim. As he watched, he saw the temple move, shifting and cracking under the sudden pressure. A huge mass of bubbles suddenly burst forth, and the entire massive building crumbled in upon itself with a booming noise that pounded at Sonic's eardrums. He realised to his horror that the crumbling pyramid was sucking him back towards it. Soon he could feel the smaller stones as they shot through the water. He would be crushed if he was pulled back into it. He tried to swim away, but the tide was too strong and he tumbled, helpless, towards the chaos. All he could do was grab onto whatever he passed. He grasped something and it broke away in his hands. Grasped something else and it held. Holding on for dear life, he tried to pull himself into whatever cavernous object he had a hold of. It was a metal pipe. Not ancient at all, but a recent construction. He swam into it as far as he could. His lungs were painfully begging for oxygen, now, but he could not appease them. If there was a dead end, he was done for, but he couldn't think of that just now. All he knew was to move onward.  
Fate was not that cruel to him, however. The pipe turned straight upward, and there was a surface to the water partway along. He breathed deeply, panting in his exhaustion and depravity, and decided to float motionless for just a little while. He figured that he deserved the rest.

Sonic inched his way up the pipe slowly, hoping naturally that there was a safe opening at the other end of it. More than anything he wanted to be out of the water for good, a draught blew through the pipe from above and gave him a serious case of the chills. At least that meant that there was air somewhere above.  
At last he saw light. A dozen lines of light shone through a grating ahead, and when he reached them he peered through to see where in the world he was. There was a dimly lit room outside the pipe, some kind of basement or storage area. Definitely not an ancient construct. He was back in modern society. Sonic put his foot against the grating and pushed out as hard as he could, and without too much effort the panel popped open and clanged on the concrete floor below. He climbed out and sat at the base of the pipe, happy to be back on dry land. It was a short while later that he discovered what it was he had climbed through. It was a sewage pipe. Somebody was thoughtless enough to drain their waste matter directly into the lagoon.  
"Man, am I ever glad nobody decided to use that while I was in there," he said to himself.  
There were a lot of pipes and boxes and assorted garbage in this room. Sonic looked around for some way out. There, at the far end, was some kind of service elevator and a set of stairs. He used the stairs, not wishing to alert the attention of anybody who might be working in the building.  
Luck was not something that Sonic ever considered to be high on his list of attributes. After all, he'd never had occasion to climb the social ladder. However, having almost forgotten the primary objective of his mission by now, Sonic was almost thrown backwards down the stairs when he reached a door labelled 'Emerald Facility'. Somehow he'd stumbled into the very place he wanted to infiltrate. The problem, and the price of his good fortune he figured, was that he had no idea what the security was like in the building, and how he was supposed to get out with the emerald undetected.  
With due caution, he opened the door a crack and peered in. A Chaos Emerald, bigger than the red one from Station Square, throbbed and glowed from its pedestal in a glass case. It was a silvery-grey colour, like a very cloudy diamond, and a tremendous stroke of luck saw that it was completely unprotected. Between this room and the outside world, without any doubt, there would be a veritable army of SWAT-bots, but nobody had counted on the sewage pipes as a means of access, so nobody had bothered placing guards at the rear.  
Dripping, Sonic tiptoed up to the emerald case and observed the prize within. This was a much more impressive jewel than the one he already had in his pack. It was larger than his fist, and seemed to radiate with a powerful inner light that probably almost matched a fluorescent bulb in luminescence. He couldn't help but wonder where that light came from, and if it would ever run out of fuel and die.  
He opened the case and took the emerald in his hand. It was warm and smooth, just as the other had been. Unfortunately, his luck had reached its extent and depleted. An alarm went off as soon as he moved the stone. It was shrill and frantic, a sound terrifying in itself. In an instant, Sonic knew that the main doors ahead of him were about to open and a flood of guards was going to pour through. He knew that there was only one way out of this building, and he hoped that his soaked shoes wouldn't be too uncomfortable for running.

Tails dangled his feet in the water, his head down and tears trailing their way down his face. There was nothing left for him now, he knew. Stranded in a strange place, with no supplies and no home to go back to.  
Of course, the fox had searched in vain for an hour after Sonic had fallen into the lagoon, but he found no trace of the hedgehog or his belongings. It was painfully obvious that he'd made the stupidest decision of his life, biting off the hand that fed him, betraying Nails in favour of the empty promises of a stranger who immediately proceeded to drown himself along with the opportunities he claimed to provide. He could never return to Station Square, never even go near the place, lest he be killed by those who protected him once. He wondered how far word of his betrayal might have spread. Would it be safe for him to settle in Mobitropolis? In Catilina? Would he have to travel even further? There were trains passing through the small town outside the Mystic Ruin, he could hear them on the breeze. Perhaps he could make do as a transiant, travelling the railway until he found a place to settle. Either way, he decided, it was time to start making his own decisions for his own welfare. No more would he allow himself to be cheated by hedgehogs, or anybody else, who claimed to know what was right for him.  
It was just as this thought passed through his head that the bushes rustled loudly beside him, and he just about leaped out of his skin when a muddied, knocked-about blue hedgehog came stumbling out, his eyes wide with some kind of adrenaline-powered passion.  
"What in the name of-" the fox stammered, "You stupid jerk! I thought you were dead! I thought you drowned in the lake"  
"I almost did," Sonic replied, "Twice. But I got this." He held out his hand, and showed Tails the glowing silver emerald.  
Tails, however, was unimpressed with the find, and looked past it as if it wasn't there. "I looked for you!" he exclaimed, "I searched all over the place for you! What was I supposed to do here all by myself? I was sure you were dead, I thought I'd have to hitchhike back to the city"  
Sonic saw the fear and anger in the small fox's eyes, and felt an immediate pang of guilt. He could see that Tails had been crying. "I'm sorry," he said, "It wasn't my fault, I couldn't get back. I wanted to, but-" He unzipped his soaked backpack in order to place the new emerald inside, and immediately saw something strange inside. It was the idol that he'd found in the temple beneath the lagoon. He'd picked it up and triggered some kind of trap, but when had he packed it? He could have sworn that he'd left it behind... just a statue, it was of no worth or significance to him on this journey. It seemed he'd put it away without thinking enough about it to even remember it, which was more than a little creepy. Shrugging it off, he forced himself to focus on more important matters.  
"You have to be more careful or something," Tails pleaded, "You promised me, Sonic. You promised me"  
"I know, Tails. I still do. I'm not gonna leave you again if I can help it. But we've gotta get out of here right now. This whole place is gonna be swarming with armed SWAT-bots any minute now, I just had to get past about twenty of 'em, and they're not pulling any punches. These things are shooting to kill"  
"But where are we gonna go?" Tails asked.  
Sonic pointed towards the mountains. Just visible over the trees, beyond the border of the oasis and over fields of brown grass and farmland, was a misty mountain range dividing the countryside in two. At most it would be a day's journey by foot to reach it. "That's where we've gotta go now. We should get going right away, before they start sending out search parties for us. The mountains will give us shelter from the air and give us somewhere to hide until the heat dies down"  
Tails nodded and trailed behind as Sonic led them out of the Mystic Ruins. He watched the hedgehog's backpack as they went, just barely able to see two points of light shining within. Sonic had seen him cry, he had bared his wounded soul to this stranger, and he felt a certain degree of embarrassment because of it. As they walked, he rebuilt the walls around his heart and thought about many things. Trust was the key issue on his mind. Trust, Nails had once told him, meant nine times out of ten that somebody was being played like a piano. Tails decided, as he watched those emerald lights, that it was time for him to begin playing the game also.


	8. Hill Top

PROJECT MOBITROPOLIS  
S Peter Davis 

All characters (C) SEGA, Archie and SP Davis 2004.  
Used without permission

* * *

HILL TOP

Mecha came online at first light, and the first thing his red eyes ever saw was the sunrise. His revolutionary software recorded this event and logged it. Sun rises over horizon, covers planet in light, allowing light-based sight receptors to operate at optimum levels. It was logic, sterile and basic. Mecha's unique form of learning computer was a long way from recording any expression of beauty or emotional connections to this vision, but it was within its capacity to do so, provided enough time passed and enough information was gathered to develop this kind of extremely complex computation. Mecha's mind was the most sophisticated computer ever conceived.  
Mecha needed to be able to think like a being of flesh, because Mecha's job was to kill.  
Ivo Robotnik was the first being that Mecha saw. Ivo Robotnik was the Commander. Mecha knew that Ivo Robotnik's word was law. This was part of Mecha's base programming, the foundation and prerequisite for all of his thought processes. Mecha's mind couldn't even boot up unless this statement was recognised as True. Mecha detected this, and logged it. He scanned the area, recording the events of nature around him. Mecha didn't know it, but Ivo Robotnik's decision to boot Mecha's computer in natural surroundings rather than the dark recesses of the Iron Ward was a deliberate one. Ivo Robotnik wanted Mecha to relate to biology, wanted him to learn it, catalogue it, have his fill of it, and eventually to emulate it.  
"Mecha," Robotnik said, "This is Life"  
Mecha saw Ivo Robotnik, saw the trees and the grass, heard the birds and the animals scurrying about, and he logged it all. He detected the way everything moved about its environment, and began to calculate probability matrices and develop an understanding of its very being.  
"Mecha," Robotnik said, "This is Machine"  
Then Mecha saw Silver. He saw the differences between Silver and everything else he could detect, and given his Commander's informative input, he was able to calculate the seperating factors and develop a definition of these concepts.  
This information led Mecha's mind to formulate a very logical and very imperative query, and one which needed a solution before it could operate properly in this world. He sought this information through speech, manipulating his comprehensive pre-programmed vocabulary to initiate communication with Ivo Robotnik.  
He asked, "Am I Life, or Machine"  
Ivo Robotnik replied, "You are Machine," but then to Mecha's puzzlement, "And you are Life"  
Mecha considered this response. It would not be easy to process this data, but he would find a way. His computer worked on the problem as he continued to observe, to record and to learn.

Sonic couldn't remember having had less sleep in his life, even taking into account his days living in the garbage. Comfort was not a privelage that he was graced with, here atop the rocky and harsh terrain of the Kirandul Mountains, far to the northeast of Mobitropolis and home. Kirandul was a subcontinent, completely bordered by these mountains, and controlled entirely by a very reclusive empire known as Arack, populated almost homogenously by spiders, and about which very little was known apart from the fact that they were isolationists and very keenly expansionist. Sonic didn't know very much at all about them, his education consisting mainly of word-of-mouth, but from what he did know of the area, he understood that this was as far east as he could safely travel.  
But the mountains were not at all conductive for relaxation. Sonic and Tails hadn't even climbed very far before night had fallen, but already Sonic's entire body ached, and Tails had begun to complain profusely about the difficulty of the journey. Now, after resting as well as they could for the ten or so hours of darkness, freezing and without shelter, Sonic's body still ached and Tails' complaints continued unabated.  
Sonic's feet were a mess of blisters, after walking as far as he had in wet shoes, so he'd left the shoes and socks hanging overnight to dry them while his feet recovered. Wearing them when they were wet had been a bad idea, but he was grateful to Tails for having taken them in the first place, because he knew his feet would have been shredded by now on the rocky landscape without them.  
Now that they had been rested, the hedgehog's muscles felt bruised and ached from their overusage. Sonic's head was heavy and his body resistant to his efforts to move it, as he hadn't had a decent sleep since he left Knothole village. In other words, the very last thing in the world that he wanted to do today was hike up a mountain.  
Yet they did, and as luck would have it, they found a fairly easy path. Tails lagged behind, and much of the time he watched the dim glow from within Sonic's pack. Once or twice, Sonic noticed this, but he didn't mention it aloud. There had been a noticable change in the fox's demeanour since Sonic had fallen into the lagoon at the aquatic ruin. For a while, Tails had seemed willing, even anxious to open up and bare his soul, but now he had retreated into his shell, reverted to the internalised and obnoxious brat he had been when Sonic had first met him back in Station Square. It was as if his trust had been betrayed. Sonic could see that the child had invested a lot in him, he was Tails' only opportunity to escape the brutal gangster lifestyle and make something more of himself, but it depended on their ability to get out of this alive. There had been a lot of time to think about things while Sonic lay awake all night, and he questioned whether he might actually be using the boy. Did his offer of salvation arise from a genuine concern, or was it nothing more than the best way he could think of to persuade Tails to help him? No, he'd seen something in Tails' eyes, he remembered. There was somebody locked away inside, somebody warm and even funny, somebody with whom Sonic could even conceive of being friends. Tails' inner child had poked out his head for a day, seen his shadow and scurried back into his hole, and now there was nothing but winter in his heart.  
"Why do we have to hike through these stupid mountains?" Tails demanded, "Can't we take a bus or something? Why the heck would we set out on foot? Did you plan this trip while you were asleep"  
"I didn't plan this trip at all," Sonic replied, "It was kind of an impulse decision. And in case you don't recall, we had to leave Mystic Ruin in a bit of a hurry. We're fugitives, remember"  
"We wouldn't be fugitives if you were better at stealing emeralds," Tails assured him.  
"Hey, let's see you try to do it any better. You'd probably try to bump into a SWAT-bot and grope at his pockets"  
"No, that's"  
His words were cut off by a very loud sound overhead. Sonic, fearing a search party for the missing emeralds, cried out in alarm and hid under the cover of a nearby tree. The sound reached a crescendo, and it turned out to be a light plane flying very low to the ground. Its shadow zipped across Sonic's path, and the plane vanished over the rocks.  
"What's your problem, you wimp?" Tails asked, but the question sounded more venomous than good humoured.  
"Sorry, I've never had an army of robots hunting me before," Sonic replied, "We're safe, I don't think that was a military plane"  
"Of course it wasn't," Tails scoffed, "That was a White Storm class private aircraft, I think it was a model 700 Hurricane"  
"Say what?" Sonic asked, "Wait a second, what do you know about planes"  
"Sometimes, people know a lot about a particular thing, it's called a hobby"  
"No need to be sarcastic, I just didn't figure that you'd have much access to that kind of knowledge, given your background"  
"There is an airport in Station Square, you know. I haven't just spent my whole life rummaging through garbage"  
Sonic sighed. "Don't be a brat," he said under his breath.  
"What did you just call me?" Tails demanded, "What did you say"  
Sonic didn't reply. He rounded a bend and came, unexpectedly, to the peak of a rocky outcrop before a steep ridge. Below, he could see a deep, grassy and very undisturbed valley, streams and waterfalls decorating its length. The valley was bordered on all sides by mountains, a lost world unaffected by society.  
"Wow, would you look at that!" the hedgehog exclaimed, awestruck. "Beautiful"  
"Don't ask me, I'm just a brat," Tails said.  
Sonic ignored the comment. He could hear the light plane flying above, and looked for it, curious as to who might be so bold as to fly in such perilous territory. As his gaze travelled upward, he noticed something quite bizarre and unexpected. Embedded in the mountains straight ahead of them were a large number of buildings, many of them immediately recognisable as aircraft hangars, and wherever there was room, runways stretched across the landscape. The plane was heading towards the precarious airport, preparing to land.  
"Good grief!" Sonic laughed, flabbergasted, "What a stupid place for an airport! That's the most ridiculous thing"  
Tails appeared genuinely very interested. Without a word, he began to climb down towards the valley.  
"Where are you going?" The hedgehog asked.  
"Where does it look like I'm going"  
"Come on, Tails, we don't know what the deal is with that place, it could be swarming with SWATs"  
The fox didn't look like he was ready to comply. Sonic took another look at the hill top airport before following. SWATs or no, it was the most likely place for the next emerald to be located, and so it was probably the best place to go.

"What do we want"  
The sound was very faint at first. Nothing but an excited flurry of voices carried on the breeze across the busy streets of Mobitropolis, it could have come from anywhere, for any reason. Nobody took much notice, until it persisted, and only grew louder.  
"Less robots"  
The King couldn't hear it. He was in his chamber, reading regal documents in silence. Neither could Prince Martin, who was deeply engrossed in a large textbook about world governance throughout history.  
"When do we want it"  
Packbell heard it, faintly, a growing commotion that was clearly getting closer. He watched the streets warily from his office window. Nothing but the daily grind, pedestrians wandering with great purpose to and from their places of business, families shopping and enjoying the outdoors. But that sound, over it all.  
"Now"  
People began to halt their movements and search for the source of it. Now Sally was watching with great interest, too, from her bedroom window, draped in a regal nightgown. The SWAT-bots guarding the palace, unemotive, stood silently and without any display of bother.  
Then they arrived. The first public protest to take to the streets of Mobitropolis in over two decades, longer than many citizens could remember. Dozens of mobians marched down the main street towards the palace, placards and fists in the air. A large sign, held up by two mobians in either side of it, declared in bold red type, 'Mobotropolis Workers Union demands NO MORE ROBOTS.  
The protest gathered in the square before the main gates, shouting at the palace, hands waving and fists beating.  
"What do we want"  
"Less robots"  
"When do we want it"  
"Now"  
The media scurried to the gathering, reporters rushing to set up their equipment while the story was still fresh. Journalists mingled among the crowd, taking interviews and scribbling notes, while the live media set up camp.  
"This is Lexington Grammar for Mobitropolis Radio One, here in Mobitropolis Central Square where, as we speak, a fierce people's demonstration is taking place. Now, this is already shaping up to be the largest protest of its kind for decades, perhaps even since the end of the android wars. The citizens... are describing themselves as a union, a workers union, and they appear determined to be heard by the palace at any cost. I'll try to communicate with one of the dissenters so that we might find out the reason for this uprising.  
"Excuse me, sir? Sir? Mobitropolis Radio One, sir, are you in charge of this demonstration"  
"Nobody here's in charge, we've gathered as a collective. We're the workers of Mobitropolis, and we've decided to unite to communicate our disgust and outrage"  
"Can you elaborate for our listeners"  
"Gladly. Over the past decade, the oppression of workers in this kingdom has reached fever pitch. Hazardous workplace conditions, low salaries and appalling job security. We can not compete with robots. They bring our salaries down and force us onto the street, make us obsolete. Some of us are starving, our families are starving, because there's nothing for us to do anymore! The decadent fat-cats in the palace are growing richer off the backs of robot workers who can work twenty-four hours and don't need to be paid, and the lower class are missing out on the prosperity. We say, enough is enough! The people cannot be ignored, and will not be ignored. We will not be swept under the carpet. Our demands are simple. A halt on the production and implementation of robots in the workforce, or else considerable compensation for laid-off workers and their families"  
"If your demands are not met, can the people expect further demonstrations in the future"  
"Oh, you have no idea how far we will go with this. You have no idea"  
"Well, there you have it, chilling words from a disgruntled citizen, one of many workers who have turned out today for what I can only describe as a furious display of discontention, a powerful demonstration of people power, and I can only assume one of many more to come, until some kind of middle ground can be reached to bridge the classes together. For Mobitropolis One, this is Lexington Grammar, Central Square."

Sonic and Tails reached the hill top airport before too long, finding a path cut into the mountainside for access. The place was a contradiction; it looked as though there ought to be mobians scurrying all around the place, for the size and scale of it, but there was nary a person to be seen. There were streets and runways, hangars and warehouses, none of them neglected or abandoned to the elements, but there appeared to be nobody to use or maintain it all.  
A brisk wind washed through the airport, whistling and ruffling. Something more, also, the sound of the light plane, coming in to land. Tails searched the skies for it, an omnipresent buzzing whose origin didn't seem to match with the actual location of its maker. At last the plane came into view, a blue biplane with yellow trims, drifting in with the grace of a bird to settle onto a nearby runway. Tails appeared anxious to meet with its pilot. Sonic trailed behind him to make sure he didn't leap into a situation that might get them both into some kind of strife.  
The pilot of the plane stepped onto the tarmac and removed a leather flying cap complete with a pair of old fashioned goggles. He was a stork, his neck and legs appearing to compose most of his form, what little torso he had dressed in a small pair of overalls, the legs of which had been altered to accommodate the length of his own. He didn't appear to be surprised at all that a fox and a blue hedgehog were rushing to meet him. In fact, he didn't even pay them much notice.  
"Wind picked up out of nowhere, yes it did," he said, and Sonic wasn't sure if he said it to his visitors, or to himself.  
"Nice plane!" Tails exclaimed.  
"You like her?" the stork asked, still looking to the sky.  
"Do I ever! The Hurricane 700 is a great bird, you don't find many in the air since they brought in the Typhoon series"  
"Right on. Most people will tell you that the Typhoon is a better craft all-round, but personally I find the rudder a little stubbourn in certain conditions, I do. The Typhoon might excel under the right windspeed, but for good old fashioned reliability you have to go Hurricane all the way"  
"Any alterations? How is she under the hood"  
"See, now, mostly she's just the same as the day she came out of the factory, but I did have do do a routine engine upgrade a while back, on account'a the usual wear and tear you get with this series"  
Sonic patiently witnessed the two of them converse like old friends, but their conversation was so drawn-out and so irrelevant that eventually he had to butt in.  
"Hey um... wait, so the two of you know each other?" he asked.  
"Huh?" the stork responded, looking at the hedgehog for the first time, "No, never seen the kid before in my life, nope, never. Knows a heck of a lot about planes, though, and that's refreshing. Say, what brings the two of you up here anyhow"  
"It's kind of a long story"  
"Long stories are the best stories, my small friend, how about we get some shelter and put a few meals into us and we can hear all about it, hmm"  
Sonic's stomach, as if it had ears of its own, grumbled a very affirmative reply before he could even get a word out. Circumstances being what they were, refusing a free and hearty meal would have been downright idiotic, despite acquaintences having not even been formalised. So this is how Sonic and Tails came to follow a complete stranger into the relative comfort of his airport home, high in the Kirandul Mountains where the air was thin.

Roast meat. Vegetables. Fruit. Three kinds of gravy. Garlic bread. Soda pop. Sonic was in some kind of heaven for the next few hours, but heaven's landscape was a dining room high in the mountains, and its bounty a feast fit for the gods. Or so it seemed, given the situation. In actual fact, the meat was stringy and overcooked, the vegetables al dente, the gravy grainy and the garlic bread cold. Any city-born critic would have panned the meal and snubbed his nose. Sonic went through three servings in a fifteen-minute period, gorging himself well after his stomach began telling him enough was enough. Even Tails did not eat quite so frantically, although he had been hungry and his table manners betrayed him.  
"The name's Joe," their host had said, "Flightless Joe. Aviation enthusiast, restorer and pilot." It wasn't a commercial airport that he ran, but a storage place for his own personal collection of planes, which numbered in the hundreds. When Sonic asked "Isn't a mountain range a silly place for an airport?" Joe replied, "Isn't your head a silly place for your eyes?" Sonic didn't have an answer.  
"You'll have to forgive me for the fuss," said Flightless Joe, "But this is a time for a celebration, it is, and until now I haven't had anyone to celebrate with"  
"I think I can forgive you," Sonic replied, slipping the words out between two mouthfuls of bread.  
"What are you celebrating?" Tails asked.  
"Ah. Well, it's sad, but it's also exciting. Just sold the pride of my collection, I did, the greatest bird that ever flew. I'm just happy to see it back in its rightful place at the head of the Mobitropolis air force. And I now officially have more money than I know what to do with"  
"Must be nice," Sonic commented, recalling life on the streets.  
"Enough about me," Joe said suddenly, wrapping a spinach leaf around a sausage with his fork, "You promised me a story, and a story you must deliver. What is it that brings the two of you so far out of your way in these mountains, hmm"  
"Well, I can't really tell you," Sonic replied, "Suffice to say that we're looking for something, an object, it's very important. It's out here somewhere"  
"What kind of object?" Joe asked, "If you're looking for something around here, I know these mountains like the back of my hand. Been flying all over, I know every tree, I do. Just as long as it's not in Arack territory, they guard their airspace and I don't like to test their patience"  
"Well, there should be some kind of facility around here," Sonic said, "A government thing, an outpost or something"  
A glimmer of recognition crossed Joe's features. "Aah, you'd be talking about Area Ten. It's camoflaged, but I see it well enough. Surveillance facility, kept in place to keep an eye on the spiders"  
"I'm not sure," Sonic replied.  
"Well, it's the only outpost around here. The only building of any kind, outside of my airport. Been quite a bit of commotion around there of late. Beefed up security or something, for some reason"  
"That'll be the place we're after, then," Sonic said. His stomach cramped from overconsumption, and he finally slowed his pace, trying nevertheless to fit in one last baked potato. "How do we get there"  
"I can fly you over, if you like. It's difficult territory, we'd have to take the Tornado"  
Tails broke his silence and began spluttering, almost choking on a mouthful of soda. Now he stared at Joe, disbelief written over his face. His eyes about bulged out of their sockets. "You have a Tornado?" he shrieked, "No way! A Tornado? Get out"  
"Ah, the kid knows his stuff," Joe commented, "As a matter of fact, I own two, I do. The finest light aircraft ever constructed, only a dozen ever flew, and I have two. One's in perfect condition, but the other is completely wrecked, I only keep it for aesthetic value"  
"Can't you fix her up?" Tails asked.  
"Believe me, I've tried. Don't get me wrong, I can fix the unfixable, I've taken planes that people have thought would never see the blue sky again, and I've made them like new. The Tornado, though, she really is unfixable, she is. The only bird I've ever been powerless to repair. Can't seem to figure out what's wrong with her"  
"She's a complicated machine," the fox said. Both of them spoke, to Sonic's ears, as though they were talking about a person of whom they shared a great admiration. It was difficult to get his head around the fact that they were discussing an aeroplane.  
"Hey, why are machines always 'she'?" he asked.  
The others looked at him with the exact same expression on both of their faces, eyebrows cocked and eyes squinted.  
"Planes are always female," Tails said, "That's a basic fact"  
"It's because they're so graceful," Joe added, matter-of-factly.  
"Sure," Sonic replied, "Have you got a bathroom"  
Before he got a reply, a sudden chaos overwhelmed the room. The table shook beneath him, cutlery clanging and clashing together, soup spilling out of the bowl. Ornaments fell off the walls, and a low rumbling sound, like the growl of some massive animal, came from all around. Tails shouted out in alarm, and Sonic leaped into a defensive stance (unsure, however, of the direction of the threat). Flightless Joe seemed completely unperturbed, if not a little amused.  
"What the heck is that?" Sonic demanded.  
"Earthquake," Joe replied, matter-of-factly, as he tried to drink from a shaking glass, "We get one a day at the very least, up here. We're sitting on a serious set of unstable fault lines, you know. That's what created this whole mountain range. Don't worry, this place is built to withstand a lot worse"  
The shaking stopped all at once. Sonic, heart palpitating, sat back down. "Fun place to hang out," he commented.

It was around two in the afternoon when Sonic and Tails entered the hangar under Joe's direction, and Tails just about popped like an over-ripe fruit when he saw the Tornado.  
It was a small red biplane, kept in such pristine condition in comparison to the other birds on either side of it that one could easily be led to believe that it was dustproof. A sleek, powerful looking machine despite its antiquated design, the Tornado was certainly an impressive work of craftsmanship, even to the uneducated eye. To Tails, though, it was so much more. He couldn't contain his excitement. Once again, Sonic could see the child in him rise, bubbling, to the surface. This was the child who wakes up on the morning of his birthday to find a new bicycle beside his bed. He looked as though it was a struggle for him to keep from giggling and clapping his hands, instead he ran his fingers along the side of the craft, admiring its every feature like a boy in love. And that may not have been an abstract analogy, for weren't planes always female?  
"Ain't she beautiful?" asked Flightless Joe, the same admiration gleaming in his own eyes.  
"Incredible," Tails replied, "Great condition. Perfect"  
"Better condition than her sister, that's for sure"  
Joe directed Tails' gaze to another plane nearby, the other Tornado. Its paintwork was exactly the same, but it was clearly missing a considerable amount of its bulk and grace. It had no wheels, and its hull was caked with dust and grime. Its bonnet was open, and most of its interior was empty. It was as though a cuccoon had broken open and all that was left was the shell.  
Tails inspected the lesser craft and slipped his head under the bonnet to check the engine.  
"The most professional thing a person can do is admit when something is beyond his ability," Joe explained, "With all the original designers long gone, I'm probably the closest thing to an expert on this model left on Mobius. Even so, it's got me baffled, even with the other machine working fine as it is. I've always maintained that, if somebody was able to help me get this bird back into the air, I'd gladly give it to them as reward"  
Tails sighed, and backed away to view the Tornado in its entirity. He seemed saddened by the idea that it was grounded forever.  
"We ought to get going soon, before it gets too late," warned Flightless Joe, checking his watch. "I wouldn't want you trapped in the wilderness come nightfall.  
Sonic was about to say that it was entirely likely they would be, but stopped himself. He hadn't mentioned anything about their mission, and Joe evidently assumed they had some kind of officially sanctioned business at Area Ten. They might just lose the benefit of his hospitality if he realised he was assisting a teenager and a small child to commit what could easily appear to be high treason. It was better just to leave him to his assumptions and reap the fruits of his generosity.  
"That's a good idea," he said instead.  
"Now, all I can do is get you close to Area Ten," Joe said, "I don't wanna be hanging around Mobitropolis restricted airspace suspiciously, no I do not. But if you kids know what you're doing, I can drop you off close enough that it won't be too much of a walk for you"  
"I can't believe I'm gonna ride in an honest-to-God Tornado," Tails marvelled, "This is like a dream come true"  
"Well, I'm happy to do my part, I am. All aboard!"

Tails had to sit on Sonic's lap, as the Tornado was only built with two seats, but he was small enough that it didn't matter so much, as long as the fox stayed still. This turned out to be too much to ask, for Tails was too excited about the plane ride to be still for any more than a moment at a time. He kept whooping and squirming, commenting loudly about all the reasons the Tornado was the greatest thing ever invented. His inner child was completely visible, now, making no attempt to hide himself behind the fox's facade of prematurity. He was the small boy who chattered incessantly about videogames and trading cards, things that adults had no interest in, but he was too excited to care. It was strange for this excitement to be translated to the subject of planes, but there were many things strange about this child. Sonic considered the fox's twin tails, his personal helicopter, and all at once he realised that Tails Prower really was born to be in the sky. A bird in a past life, perhaps even meant to be a bird in this life. The blue yonder called to him, and one way or another, it would have him.  
The Kirandul Mountains stretched out below them so that Sonic could see their complexity for what it was. Whatever the forces of nature that had created this expanse of terrain, they must have been catastrophic. Sonic and Tails had not even breached the outer layer of the range, a torrid sea of mountains and canyons stretched away to the northeast horizon, and Sonic considered it a good thing that they didn't have to travel all the way to the Kirandul subcontinent; the two of them would certainly die trying to get to the other side.  
The hedgehog's gaze shifted to the pack, wedged between himself and the inside wall of the plane. It was slightly open, and the glow of the emeralds was clearly visible from the opening. Joe had given them enough food to last the rest of the week, so the bag was full again. Sonic turned to Tails long enough to notice that the fox, no longer so enthusiastic, was staring at the bag also. The hedgehog zipped it back up again, and Tails pretended he hadn't been leering. Sonic wondered about the degree of his companion's interest in the emeralds. A small part of him, the habitual criminal part, probably still desired those gems, desired to snatch them up to prove his worth to Nails the Bat, or whichever crime boss he sought to be on good terms with. Sonic was confident that this desire was being buried, now, by Tails' emerging inner child. Soon it would be nothing but a memory in the boy's past. He had no need for such desires, now that he was free.  
"There's Area Ten, straight ahead," Joe shouted from the cockpit. He had to strain his voice to be heard over the rushing wind. Sonic tried to see, but the wing was obscuring his view.  
"I see it!" Tails exclaimed from his higher vantage point, and lo and behold, it soon came into view for Sonic as well. A building, cropping out from the side of a cliff, fenced off with barbed (and probably electric) wire. The construction looked solid and sturdy, even armoured, probably built to withstand the force of a bombing, in the event that the Arack Empire ever came marching over these mountains towards Mobitropolis. It was an artless and trivial looking outpost, but nevertheless one of great strategic and defensive value. Sonic found himself glad that it existed, contradictory to his plans to siege it. Very close to it was a network of steep cliffs. Sonic could see a railway track emerging from the dark abyss of the canyons, running parallel to the mountain range. It ran further than he could see in both directions, connecting horizon to horizon.  
They turned away from the building, now, and began to fly west. Sonic could see patchwork plains blanketed by farmland stretching right to the horizon. He could see small towns, and the watery abyss of the Mystic Ruins at the base of the mighty mountain range below. From here, he could see the course of his travels over the last few days, but even at this height he couldn't be granted a map of his adventure. The road the two of them had hitchhiked along was a dark line through the arid plains, and it stretched as far as could be seen. The smoke from Station Square's factory district was just visible over the horizon, but the booming metropolis was almost hidden now over the curve of the world. Sonic realised now just how far he had really come, and how good it felt. His first vacation, ever. And he challenged any travel agency to run an adventure tour as good as this one. He also realised as they soured into the cerulean skies of Mobius that it was his first time flying, and he liked it. He wasn't afraid of heights, not even a little. It was clear to him now why Tails had developed such an affection for flight. Seeing the world spread out below was an infectious joy that overpowered his mind and flooded him with endorphins. What a rush.  
They turned again and began to descend, to reacquaint themselves with the ground. Joe wasn't willing to fly too close to the outpost, but they were set to touch down within a mile or two. As he was judging this, Sonic realised a fairly commonsense logical flaw that, for some reason, had hitherto evaded him. There was no runway.  
"Hey Joe," he shouted to the pilot, "How are we gonna land"  
"Land?" Joe shouted back, "Can't land, there's no runway"  
"Right." Sonic was almost content with this response for a moment, before he realised that it didn't actually answer his query at all.  
The world rushed up to meet them. "How are you going to drop us off, then?" Sonic asked, the subject of their next course of action becoming more urgent by the second.  
"Going to have to bail out, I'm afraid!" Joe shouted, "I'll find a soft place, of course, and slow down as much as I can, but you'll need to make a hasty departure"  
"I'm not liking this idea," Sonic said, but Tails was already preparing to jettison himself from the moving plane. Sonic looked at his pack, the straps flapping about in the wind.  
"I just wanted to say," Joe shouted, "That it was an extreme pleasure meeting the both of you, yes it was. I don't get a lot of visitors up here. Just remember that if you ever want to see old Flightless Joe again, you know where I'll be"  
Tails shouted a reply, but Sonic couldn't hear what he said. The grass was so close that it almost seemed to brush the bottom of the Tornado, a very risky altitude. The hedgehog heard Joe yelling that he should roll when he hits the ground, just roll and try to go limp. He wasn't entirely sure he still wanted to do this.  
Tails was gone, though. There one moment, but not the next. Sonic was alone with the pilot and his bag of supplies.  
Joe turned to see the hedgehog still sitting there. "Get going!" the stork shouted, "Go! I gotta pull up soon"  
Sonic swallowed the lump in his throat, and tossed the bag over the side. It made no sound over the whirr of the engine and the rush of the wind, and he figured he might have just thrown it into outer space. Before he could chicken out, Sonic screamed and leaped out of the moving biplane. He tried to curl up almost as soon as he jumped, and closed his eyes as he brought his knees up around his face and hugged them. The world spun wildly in the darkness, all sense of up and down became meaningless, he waited to hit the ground as his body did somersaults at some phenomenal speed. Time stopped for him, a Freeze Time in the dark, his senses vanquished by centrefugal force. He only had his thoughts, and sometime as he waited for the collision he realised that it had been far too long, the impact hadn't happened as it should, which meant that he must still be hurtling through space. His heart seemed to stop, just then. Had he waited too long to jump? Had Joe pulled back up, soaring into the heavens again, before Sonic realised it? Was he plummeting to his death?  
Sonic didn't want to open his eyes. He didn't want to see the world rushing up to him, didn't want to see the hard surface of Mobius coming to smash his bones into powder and squash his body like a beetle on a windshield. The thrill of flying, it seemed, had come with barbs, and the activity had ended him for good. He found himself wondering if Tails would be quite so excited about flying again after seeing his companion fall out of the sky.  
Then the impact came. It didn't end him, though, nor did it break his bones or crush his body. Sonic's spinning ball broke apart, arms and legs flopping about and landing flat on the ground. He was staring into the sky when his vision returned. The sky was spinning in a circle. His muscles ached for some reason. He lay for an undiscernable amount of time before something crossed his vision. The underside of the Tornado. It flew over him, just a spot in the heavens now, and he watched it, not sure whether to believe he really was still alive. Soon, he thought, soon the pain would come, and he would discover that all of his bones were shattered. But the pain never came, and after he willed his heart to return to an almost normal pattern of beats per minute, he began to wiggle his fingers and toes to make sure he wasn't a quadriplegic. His limbs seemed fine.  
Tails' head appeared in the sky. No, he wasn't in the sky, he was standing over Sonic looking down. "That was so cool!" he announced. The hedgehog pulled himself to a sitting position to try and find some normal perspective.  
"I'm never doing that again," he said.  
"How did you do that?" Tails demanded, and it did seem more like a demand. There was some kind of anger at the back of his voice, trying to bubble out.  
"Do what?" Sonic asked.  
"How did you roll like that"  
The hedgehog looked around. Had he been rolling? Yes, he had, hadn't he. It made a strange kind of sense. He hadn't been falling, but rolling. The collision at the end hadn't been the ground. He'd rolled straight into a rock. He could see the rock a few feet away.  
"You must have rolled three hundred metres just then," Tails added, "I had to run to catch you"  
"Weird," Sonic replied. His body had slipped into such a sphere that his momentum had kept him rolling like a bowling ball down an aisle. He stood up to inspect his surroundings. He could see the outpost, Area Ten, just over the next rise, and he could also see his pack lying in the grass some distance away.  
The sun had once again completed its climb in the blue sky, and started to fall back towards Mobius. Sonic guessed it was about three in the afternoon. It was time to do what they were here to do.

There were a surprising lack of defenses around the perimeter of the outpost, which served to concern Sonic even more. It only stood to reason that the defenses he couldn't see were just the well-hidden ones. Still, he breached the fence without any difficulty, as it wasn't electrified at all, and the path to the building seemed (mines? dogs?) disturbingly clear.  
Tails was hesitant to proceed. Sonic looked back, and the fox was standing outside the fence with an unsure look about him.  
"If you get caught," Tails said, "I'll have nowhere to go. You can't get caught, okay? You promised me I wouldn't have to go back to the street"  
"You won't," Sonic replied, "You can stay where you are, if you like. I'll be out soon, I won't get caught"  
"So you say! But you've been doing stupid things, lately, like falling into that lake. How do I know you're not gonna do something dumb and get caught"  
"Here we go again. Look, I'll be careful, okay? Everything's going to be fine. I think I'm good at this"  
"Yeah, you think you're good. I think I thought you were a whole lot better than you were when I let you talk me into coming with you to these stupid mountains"  
"Well I had to get you to give me that emerald somehow, didn't I? Maybe I would have just left you behind if I knew what a pest you were"  
That one struck home, and Sonic instantly regretted saying it. Tails flinched back a little as though he had been struck, and then the look of death froze on the child's face.  
"Tails," Sonic said in a much softer tone, "Tails, I'm sorry, I didn't mean"  
The fox said nothing.  
"Look, I'll be out in a few minutes, okay? Just wait for me, we'll talk about this later"  
He turned and, fearing anything might jump from the bushes to stop him, sprinted to the building. Nothing came after him. He looked back after he reached the entrance, but couldn't see Tails anymore.  
"Stupid," he said to himself, "Way to make the kid twice as difficult to live with." But he couldn't worry about Tails' hurt feelings at the moment. He had to focus on getting in and out of Area Ten without being gunned down, not to mention finding the emerald and prying it out somehow. He was running out of flukes and due for some bad luck. It was basic logic that each emerald was going to be more difficult to take, being that the prince must surely be very aware of his thievery by now.  
Stepping inside the outpost, he expected everything from an ambush of SWATs to laser-triggered machineguns and deadly gas. In fact, the very last thing he expected to find was what was really waiting for him inside this compound - absolutely nothing.  
Area Ten was empty, completely abandoned, not a soul or a robot in sight. It wasn't discernable whether the compound was even in operation anymore. The floors were dusty, the furniture unmaintained and in disarray. The crest of the royal Acorn family adorned the wall, inspiring only ghosts and dust bunnies. After the initial confusion, certain facts became clear to him. If the guards were gone, the emerald surely went with them. Clearly, they anticipated his arrival, and took the emerald to a new location, possibly miles away. It was probably in transit at that very moment, while he sifted through the remains of its prior home, it was moving to the other side of the continent.  
He turned back towards the entrance, and was shocked to see that there was somebody silhouetted in the doorway, the afternoon light contrasting the darkness to obscure the stranger's features.  
"Tails?" he asked, but he knew it was too tall to be his companion. The newcomer blocked his escape, and he could see now that he was being threatened with a gun.

"There's one thing you need to know about people," Nails had said, once upon a time, "You can't trust people. Trust is a game that people play to get ahead in life. It's a mind-game, kid. You think you can trust the cops? The government? The little old lady who buys her groceries at the corner store? You think you can trust me? Forget it. Friendship is a sham, kid. You know what people really want? Power. Wealth. Pleasure. Sometimes you need other people to help you get it. So you use them. You have to be a user, kid. Because if you're not a user, then you're being used. That's the way the world works. Three words - Never. Trust. Anybody"  
Tails cried. He wept under a tree on the hill top, and tried to weep some cohesion back into his mind. He had learned all of life's lessons on the street, and many of those lessons had been hard ones. None so hard, though, as the lesson on trust. Independence had been thrust upon him so early. His father, who he trusted, and who betrayed that trust by dying. Nails, who had been a father figure even though he outright rejected the position on principle, frequently reprimanded the youngster on the subject of trust.  
"Never. Trust. Anybody. Don't you dare trust me, either. You think I'm not using you? I'll promote you when I think you're ready, kid, but it's not because I like you. I'm just lining my own pockets, just like everybody else. And I won't even think about it as long as you're still trusting people and going soft on me. God almighty, you're just like your father. Both of you, you're just like an egg. Hard on the outside, soft and yellow on the inside. Grow up and see the world for what it is. It's dead, Tails, the world is dead and rotten. See it and move on"  
Just like his father. They were never meant to be gangsters, that was one thing he remembered his father telling him from a young age. They weren't gangsters, they were honest people, and as soon as they were able to fend for themselves in this world, they would live an honest life. But the world had killed him. Tails knew it now - his father had died because his father had been wrong. Nails had been right all along. Honesty was an illusion. Friendship was a sham. The world was dead and rotten.  
Sonic came bearing promises, but the promises had been as substantial as the breeze. He was being used again, being too soft and vulnerable. Allowing some stranger to use him. Sonic wanted the emeralds. The reason was unclear, but it almost certainly had something to do with power, or wealth, or pleasure. Those were the only things that meant anything in this dead, rotten world. Sonic was using him as a tool, he was nothing more than a hammer or a drill. The hedgehog came bearing trust as a weapon, playing the mind-game of friendship, and Tails had been soft enough to eat up every lie. Sonic didn't care about him. It was the emeralds, all the way. That was all that mattered. He spoke of philosophy and meaning, but his fancy words weighed nothing at all.  
Three words. Never. Trust. Anybody. Now that was a philosophy. That was the deadworld philosophy, the only one that truly stood up to scrutiny. Tails stopped crying and opened his eyes. He couldn't be soft anymore, not if he hoped to survive. He couldn't be an egg - he had to be hard all the way through.

"Looking for this?" the stranger asked, and as Sonic's eyes adjusted to the light he finally saw who it was. A vulture, dressed in a dirty brown suit, a gun in one hand and a glowing mouve gem in the other. There was no mistaking it as a Chaos Emerald. Sonic breathed a sigh of relief that the stone was still here. So close, and yet so far, being that he wasn't ready to misjudge this character's aim enough to take the object from him.  
"Looking for what?" Sonic asked, playing dumb.  
The vulture shook his head. "I know you know what this is," he replied, "You have two of them already, I'm sure they're in that backpack of yours. I have to say, though, I'm kind of disappointed in you. They call you the blue blur, did you know that? Nobody ever sees you, that's the only way they know to describe you. A blue blur. I thought you were some kind of master thief, I didn't really expect you to just walk into a trap like a kid walking into a candy store. Worth a try, though"  
"And just who are you? One of Prince Martin's cronies? Has he got you believing his garbage too"  
The vulture sighed. "Look. I don't like listening to that overstuffed turkey any more than the next guy. But I've got a situation, here. Those emeralds are my business. I have a job to do and a reputation to uphold. You, my blue friend, are currently damaging that reputation with your activities. All I want to do is finish my work and collect my pay. It's been jolly good fun, but I'm not in the mood for games anymore. If you would kindly drop the bag, I'll let you scamper away and I'll even forget I ever saw you. There are a lot of people who want you caught and strung up by your toes, you know. You could do worse than to come up against me. I don't give a sneeze in a monsoon about you, personally. But I will shoot you if I have to"  
"Fine, you win," Sonic said, "I was getting tired of this, anyway. It's too easy"  
"You've made the right decision"  
Sonic took off the backpack, and without warning he threw it at the vulture. His adversary instinctively made a grab for it, and in doing so, momentarily faltered with his firearm. A moment was all Sonic needed. The hedgehog took off sprinting directly at his opponent, making the vulture cry out and fumble his gun. "Blast!" he shrieked, and squeezed off a bullet randomly into the air. Sonic kicked him to the ground, the mouve emerald rolling outside and away. He grabbed the backpack and ran after it.  
"Blast!" the stranger shouted again. Sonic snatched up the emerald without stopping, and he heard two gunshots from behind him. He didn't look back again. The thrill of another victory pumped through his veins.

Tails was still under the tree when Sonic found him, and the hedgehog was laughing like a crazed lunatic. Tails blinked the tears out of his eyes and scrubbed them out of his fur. If it looked like he'd been crying, Sonic didn't show any sign of noticing.  
"I got it!" he exclaimed, "I got another one, take a look"  
He dropped the bag on the ground, and leaned against the tree to catch his breath. He continually glanced back in the direction of Area Ten, as though concerned he was followed.  
Tails took the bag and looked inside. Atop their supplies were three glowing stones, the red, the gray and the newest, a pretty mouve gem, the colour of lavender. It appealed to his senses, helped him clarify his thoughts.  
"Come on, we've gotta move quick," Sonic said, "There's a dude with a gun who's pretty ticked off right now. Hurry, hand me the bag"  
He put out his hand, and Tails just looked at it, the blankest of blank expressions painted across his face. It was how a person might look if they were given a sign to read in a foreign language.  
"Come on, Tails," Sonic prompted, and took a few steps towards the fox. Tails, in turn, took a few steps backward, clutching the bag to his chest. Sonic suddenly realised what was so odd about that expression, he knew what it was. It was the facade. The gangster-Tails, the boy who had stolen the red emerald in the seedy back-alleys of Station Square. His inner child had never been so deeply buried as it was now. All the fox knew was his own survival.  
"Tails," Sonic muttered, "Oh Tails, hey, no"  
"I'm sorry, Sonic," Tails said, without a trace of emotion to denote any truth in that statement, "Things are clear to me, now. I have to make my own way in the world"  
"What are you talking about, Tails"  
"I'm talking about trust," the fox replied, "I know you can't protect me. I know you don't even want to. You'll get caught, sooner or later, or else you'll get tired of me and just leave me somewhere. I can't trust you. I won't"  
"Tails, that's not true!" Sonic exclaimed, "I didn't mean what I said before, I was frustrated. I made a promise, and I intend to keep it. I like you, Tails, I'm hoping we can be friends"  
"Frendship is a sham," Tails muttered, "I need to make my own way. I need to help myself from now on"  
"And what, you need to steal the emeralds off me? Is that how you're going to make your way? Go back to stealing what isn't yours"  
"Isn't that what you've been doing all along?" Tails asked. Sonic didn't have an answer. Tails murmered that he was sorry again, and Sonic believed him. The boy was conflicted, something had pushed him over the edge. The argument - damn, why did he have to lash out like that?  
Before he could say anything more, Sonic heard a sound overhead. His first thought was that it was Flightless Joe in one of his planes, but when the sound's origin appeared over the trees, he saw that it was nothing so benevolent. Robot flying machines, shaped like giant wasps, hovered above him, their dead eyes staring straight ahead although he was sure that they were really looking directly at him. Five of them appeared, buzzing and whirring. Sonic turned and saw the vulture running towards him from the clearing, gun cocked and expression hard. He turned again to find Tails, but the fox was gone, emeralds and all. He'd vanished into the foliage.  
Compartments opened on the undersides of each of the wasp-machines, and SWAT-bots slid down to the ground on cables. Sonic had nowhere to run. He tried to fight them off, but the robots overpowered him, wrenching his arms painfully behind his back and restricting his movement completely.  
He was facing the vulture now, but there was somebody else standing with him. Somebody of flesh and blood, and unlike the vulture, this mobian was very familiar to him. The vulture cocked a kind of satisfied grin, but the other was utterly without humour, his eyes dark with anger, his mouth turned up into a scowl.  
"Good work, Carrion," said the Prince of Mobitropolis. "Good work"  
Sonic stared back into Prince Martin's eyes without anywhere near the same contempt as was radiating back at him. In actual fact, Sonic didn't know what to feel. He did what he did because of his trust in Kethriel and the Freedom Fighters, not because of any direct malevolence towards the prince himself. He had never felt so much hatred directed towards him in all his life. It frightened him badly.  
"Yes... you were there, weren't you..." the prince hissed. It wasn't a question.  
"Where?" Sonic managed to stammer.  
"The chemical plant," Martin replied, "Station Square. It was you in that room with me. You who stole from me, reached into my trousers while I was still wearing them, you little mutant worm. I remember the way you breathed. I thought you might be a monster, but you're just a rodent"  
"Sticks and stones," Sonic muttered.  
"Did you think it would just be that easy? You'd just take one emerald a day until you collected the whole set? How could you not see how obvious your pattern was? Do you think I'm stupid, that I couldn't figure out where you would strike next"  
"Where are they?" added the vulture who had been called Carrion.  
"Where are what?" Sonic asked.  
Now, the prince screamed in his face. "Do not mess with me! I will take you apart, do you understand? I will rend you limb from limb"  
"He doesn't have them with him," Carrion said, calmly, "He had them in a backpack. He's hidden it somewhere"  
"Who the hell are you?" the prince demanded, "Who sent you? Who are you working for? Why do you want my emeralds"  
"I like shiny things," Sonic said.  
The prince seemed to calm himself. He took a deep breath, and let it out. Then, composed, he withdrew his cigarette case, put one of the long white tubes to his puckered lips, and lit it up. The smell of fresh tobacco filled the air, as the monarch breathed the smoke into his lungs and let it out through his nose.  
"Here is what I'm going to do," he said. He turned to Sonic, and looked at him with eyes full of daggers. "I'll break one of your fingers. Then another. Then another. If I get through ten and you're still wising off, I suppose I shall have to put your eyes out as well. Sooner or later, you are going to tell me where my emeralds are"  
"Hey," Carrion said, "Hey, that's kinda sick, Princey, I don't want any part of"  
The prince put his hand up to silence the vulture, but didn't remove his glare from Sonic's face. He didn't even blink.  
Sonic began to panic, but he didn't want the prince to know. Somehow, he understood that showing fear couldn't possibly do anything but worsen his situation. Still, he had no idea what he was going to do. The emeralds weren't safe with Tails if there were SWAT-bots prowling the mountains. Sonic wasn't even sure that Tails wouldn't simply hand over the emeralds the first chance he had, an attempt to make a surrogate out of Martin the same way he had sucked up to Nails. Sonic was thinking so hard and stressing so badly that he didn't even notice when the ground began to shake.  
The prince noticed, though, as did Carrion, and the two of them looked momentarily confused as the tremor steadily worsened. The confusion turned to fear. Although there was probably no place safer in an earthquake than the open wilderness, the very nature of a quake had a powerful psychological effect. Even Sonic feared it, for it was even stronger than the one that had wracked Joe's airport earlier in the afternoon. It frightened him to such an extent that he didn't even pick up on the fact that the SWAT-bots had relinquished their hold on him. His thoughts soon straightened themselves out, and in the pandemonium (thank you, nature!) he fled the scene, despite shouts from his captors. It was difficult to run with the ground moving beneath him, but he made it into the safety of the foliage by the time it ended, and headed towards the maze of cliffs and canyons to avoid the danger of being seen from above. Another lucky escape for the blue blur. At this point, it wouldn't have taken much for him to believe that Mobius itself was on his side.

It didn't require a terribly intensive search to find Tails among these cliffs and ledges. First, however, Sonic found the pile.  
He almost tripped upon it. A pile of objects, scattered on the ground and abandoned. A map, a torch, a cooking pot, some matches, some rags, among other paraphernalia, including a silk bag tied up with string. Tails had emptied his backpack of anything deemed useless to him, which was apparently everything except the food and the Chaos Emeralds. And there, up ahead, was the fox himself, sitting on a rock and rooting through the bag like an animal who stumbled upon an encampment. He was dirty and undisciplined, he looked like a savage, and when he looked up and saw Sonic, the hedgehog couldn't see a lot of civilisation remaining in those eyes.  
Tails snatched up the bag again and leaped off the rock. Now it was obvious that the fox had been crying, and he trembled softly in either fear, rage, woe, or all at once.  
"Go away!" he cried.  
"Tails, let me help you!" Sonic pleaded.  
"No! You can't help me! Nobody can help me! I'm an orphan freak! I don't have anything anymore, thanks to you! You took me away from my home, and you turned my family against me, and dragged me out here in the middle of nowhere! And I hate you"  
"You think those gangsters were your family?" Sonic asked, "They tortured and terrorised you! Tails, I want to help you! Don't do this, there are people who will try to kill you for those emeralds. You can't make it on your own. Give me the bag, let me take you to"  
"Leave me alone!" Tails shrieked, "Empty promises! Empty deadworld promises"  
With that, the fox ran. Sonic persued, and knowing that the hedgehog was the faster runner, Tails tried to use his namesakes to fly out of reach. The terrain was too rugged, though, and the trees obscured his view. The fox finally reached a clearing, but before he could take any evasive action, he realised that that was as far as the ground went. The clearing was space, thin air, and below him was a five hundred metre drop into a rocky canyon. His inertia thrust him over the edge into oblivion.  
A hand on his wrist. Sonic above him, lying on his belly atop the cliff, his arm dangling. Tails forgot his hostility towards Sonic, as all that mattered at this crucial moment was his own survival. The proximity of death chased away any philosophies that might have been taught to him throughout his life, by father, gangster, or hedgehog.  
Sonic had his own difficulties, though. With one dangling hand, he held onto Tails. With the other, he held onto the backpack, which had left the fox's grip at the time of his falling, and which Sonic had managed to grab simultaniously with the rescue of his companion. He stared through the space between bag and fox, down a half-kilometre of sheer drop. At the base of it, he saw the railroad that he had spotted from the Tornado. It looked just as distant from this altitude.  
"Help me, Sonic!" Tails pleaded.  
Sonic tried to hoist them up, but their combined weight was too heavy to manage. His own centre of gravity shifted precariously and threatened to hurl both of them (and baggie makes three) into the rocky abyss.  
"Can't you fly?" Sonic demanded.  
"I can't!" Tails replied urgently, "I have to get a boost! It doesn't work unless I jump"  
There was a mechanical noise far below them. A black train was running along the track, now, its carriages distantly thudding and screeching as its smoke filled the canyon. Sonic looked from bag to fox, sweat pouring down his forehead, along his snout, and dripping like rain into infinity.  
Three times he almost dropped the bag, but hesitated each time. Losing the emeralds meant losing his quest. The prince and his robots would surely locate the bag before Sonic had a hope of finding his way to the bottom of this canyon. Again, he tried to hoist up the bag, but the effort only shifted his body, creating a rain of little stones that fell from the cliff beneath him and into space. The knowledge of what was happening instilled terror in the young fox, who began to wail helplessly, and he began grappling and clawing at Sonic's arm.  
Sonic was wailing too, now, the sheer helplessness of the situation hitting home. Death to Tails or death to Mobitropolis, and if he waited too long to decide, death to all of them at once. The train blew its whistle. Sonic's sweat and blood dripping into the depths of forever. With a cry that was almost a scream, the hedgehog threw the bag into the canyon. It struck the rocky cliff several times on its way down. Sonic grabbed the crying fox with both hands and wrenched him to safety. He stared into the canyon just long enough to watch the bag hit the bottom and, hitting a one in a million target, it actually fell into one of the open carriages of the train as it chuffed away down the line. Where was that train headed? He didn't know, and he didn't even care anymore. He listened to the future of his home city vanish with the blow of a whistle and a tower of smoke, as hedgehog and fox lay together at the top of this cliff, catching their breath.  
They must have lay there for several minutes before Tails started sobbing again. His fury had melted away, and now he was simply a sad, distressed little boy. Sonic didn't feel too far off crying either.  
Soon, Tails spoke, and he said simply, "You picked me." Sonic didn't know how to feel about that statement. In leiu of this, he felt absolutely nothing. He closed his eyes and thought about his friends back home, about Rat, Bosley and Powder, about Kethriel, Slick and Amy.  
"You were right," he said at last. There was a long silence before Tails, between tears, responded. "About what"  
"I can't help you," Sonic said, "I can't help you, Tails"  
"Oh"  
"Can you find your way? On your own, I mean. Back to somewhere safe"  
"I think so"  
"Good. It's not safe for you to follow me anymore"  
Tails nodded, and began to make his way back through the foliage.  
"Tails"  
The fox turned his head. Sonic had his head down, defeated. "I'm sorry," he said.  
Tails nodded again, and continued on his way.

It was nightfall before Sonic found the base of the canyon and set his foot on the train tracks. Strange animals came out at night in these mountains, though as this was his second night listening to them, he wasn't so concerned as he had been upon first hearing their cries. An owl hooted a faint beacon somewhere to the east. A lonely wolf howled for companionship. Sonic, forlorn and weak with fatigue, dragged his feet along the tracks, directionless. The robots had almost found him as he climbed down the mountainside, but they had given up their search when the sun disappeared. It seemed lonelier without them, and it took effort for Sonic to convince himself that their abandoning him was a good thing.  
The only thing he took with him was Kethriel's silk bag. He tied the string around his neck and wore it as a necklace. No more pack and no more emeralds. From now on, he travelled light.  
A faint sound behind him grew steadily louder as he shuffled. It took a while for him to realise it wasn't just another mountain animal, but a train whistle. He stepped off the tracks and watched the train approach. It was black, like the other, so it was difficult to see as it whizzed past him. Sonic was taken with the brief hope that it might actually be the same train, but he quickly realised that this was impossible.  
Weak and defeated, Sonic started what he decided would be his last run for quite a while. He sprinted alongside the train until the machine almost seemed stationary, and then he leaped to the side, grabbing onto a handle attached to one of the carriages. The wind bristled his spines as he climbed into the metal carriage, and found to his surprise that the carriages were completely empty, all of them massive hollow tubs. This train was travelling somewhere to be loaded, as was the other, assumedly. He slid down into the bottom of the carriage and fell asleep to the metallic thudding of the wheels against the sleepers below. The moon shone upon him with its delicate silver light. His quest had been derailed, now, and he embraced the only avenue left to him - he put himself in the hands of fate. Whatever became of him now, was up to the forces of the universe.  
Sonic travelled into the storm cold and alone.


	9. Mystic Cave

PROJECT MOBITROPOLIS  
S Peter Davis 

All characters (C) SEGA, Archie and SP Davis 2004.  
Used without permission

* * *

MYSTIC CAVE

Legends have a way of spreading, and they spread so quickly that it's soon impossible to contain them. Word of mouth cannot be isolated or quarantined. The legend of the blue blur, for example, was soon something oddly familiar to even the most ordinary of citizens, even those who knew nothing about the political upheaval underway in the government, were vaguely aware of the unnamed scourge that threatened the security of the Mobitropolis revolution. It was a name on the wind. A few people claimed to have seen this blue blur in their backyards, or in the forest at night. It was either a mythological creature from the darkest unexplored wilderness, or a secret military project being tested by the government. Nobody was altogether anxious to rule out alien involvement, either. Few people truly believed the stories (generally speaking, there were no stories to speak of anyway) but there were a few select individuals who knew the truth behind the legend. Prince Martin, his plans jeopardised by this unforseen threat, was one. Ivo Robotnik would soon be another.  
Martin was fearful as he descended into one of the palace's most discreet and private sanctums. Fear was not an experience he was used to, and offended him to have to endure it, but he could not help his reaction to this dungeon of dim nightmares. It was a feeling. It hung in the air like an odour, omnipresent and intimidating. Robotnik's laboritory seemed as though it were the spawning place for experiments that would make the devil cringe. For all that was known about Robotnik's activities down here, it very well may have been.  
The Prince reached the innermost sanctum and peered around. Some kind of mist was suspended in the atmosphere, making the air milky rather than altogether transparent. Chemicals, neatly labelled and packaged, were shelved in an almost obsessively orderly fashion. To the left of him were dozens of tools hung upon a wall. There was a heat around him, not humid but dry and stinging, as though there was a fire nearby. Much of the laboritory was bathed in the darkest of shadow.  
Suddenly there was a red glow to the Prince's right. Trying to swallow his fear and retain some pride, he spun around and barked an exclamation. All he saw in the darkness were two red half-circles of light, shedding a dim luminescence upon their immediate area, revealing what almost appeared to be a face; a smooth, hardened characature of a face.  
"I am Mecha," droned a digitised voice from the approximate direction of the face. Whatever this anomoly was, it stepped closer and revealed that it was more than a face. There was an entire body standing in the darkness, but it was no kind of mobian that Prince Martin had ever seen. It reached out to him, and the light fell upon its arm. The Prince had seen enough robots in his time to be unimpressed with the technology in general, but this was new even to him. The polished metal appendage, painted in an almost tranquil combination of black, malign yellow and royal blue, did not jerk or twist in programmed, angular directions. It moved like an arm of bone and muscle, slowly and curiously, smooth and delicate. The only thing robotic about that motion was the electric buzzing that came with each movement, audible in such silence although it was so quiet that it was almost beyond the range of hearing.  
Prince Martin stepped back impulsively to avoid being touched by the thing, but another hand fell upon his shoulder and something large and soft pressed against his back.  
"Mecha," the voice of Robotnik said from behind him, "This is life. See how fragile it is, how soft and precious. Also sense its power. Analyse its lethe and complex movements.  
The thing that was being called Mecha cocked its head to the side and retracted its reaching arm. "I see," it commented. Then, seemingly after a short calculation, "Would you like me to terminate this one? I could cease its life functions in two-point-three seconds"  
This was more than the Prince was willing to bear. As the thing in the darkness prepared to advance, he slipped out of Robotnik's grip and stumbled backward into the darkness.  
"No, Mecha," Robotnik said, "Not this one"  
"Understood"  
The Prince slinked his way through a shadowed niche, but fell upon something else that moved also. He shrieked, for the first time allowing fear to take control, and ran back towards the science minister. Something with enormous, bright orange spotlight-eyes clanked after him. It was a short, bulky monstrosity the colour of raw tin, spiked and jagged, and it too moved disturbingly like a living creature, although with nowhere near the grace and delicacy of the Mecha-thing. This one shambled, its bulbous silver feet clanking beneath it as it followed the Prince into the light. Robotnik held its arm out to stop its advance, and it obeyed like a well-trained dog.  
"I told you never to come down here," the professor said.  
"You don't tell me what to do!" Martin shrieked, "This is my palace! I will go where I wish! And you keep these wretched abominations away from me, do you understand? If one of these things ever comes near me again, I swear"  
"My apologies, Majesty," Robotnik replied, "I mean only to ensure your safety. Forgive my tone, I do get so... wrapped up in my work"  
"And don't you ever touch me again, either," the Prince added, "Don't ever forget your loyalties, Doctor. Never forget who you work for"  
"Never, Majesty"  
The Mecha-thing was gone, slinked into some dark corner. It seemed to move with the shadows as though it were a part of them. Martin was happy not to see its red eyes anymore. The orange-eyed machine with its raw silver hull and loud joints continued to shamble around the laboritory like a curious child.  
Martin's gaze fell upon a misty glass tube nearby, which contained a swirling cloud of undiscernable material, lit up with a neon green glow. He peered into the glass, squinting slightly.  
"I have come down to see what you are working on here," he said, "I wish to know the nature of your experiments. I want to know that you are using your time wisely, and for the benefit of the cause." He almost pressed his face against the glass, trying to make sense out of the swirling mists. It was almost as though they had order to them, as though the clouds moved with some kind of pattern rather than their natural chaotic drift.  
"Nanomachines," Robotnik said.  
"What?" Martin tore his gaze away and looked back at the science minister.  
"Inside the chamber," he clarified, "You're looking at the first fully automated nanoswarm. Microscopic robots, self-replicable and programmable"  
"Outstanding," Martin said, awed, "How do you control them"  
"It's simple," Robotnik explained, "The mechanised components are powered by the green light. They cannot travel outside of it, and if the light is switched off, the swarm stops functioning. See here"  
Robotnik reached over and lifted the tube from where it was situated, like lifting an overturned jar. The light remained, produced by a laser panel beneath, and nothing stood between the Prince and the nanoswarm. Even so, the mist was contained as though the glass was still there.  
"Extraordinary," Martin began to reach towards the green light, but Robotnik grabbed his arm before he could touch it. "That is a bad idea," he said, and replaced the glass container.  
"I told you a moment ago never to touch me," the Prince hissed, and gazed into the light again. "By the way," he said, "I thought you might be interested. We have a description of this 'blue blur', the rat mongrel who has been taking the stones. I saw him yesterday afternoon, caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. A hedgehog, with blue spines. Must fancy himself a superhero, I suppose"  
Robotnik was silent a moment. He stared into space, and although he had been idly stroking his virile moustache, his hand stopped its motions and he stood quite still.  
"A blue hedgehog?" he asked.  
"Yes. Quite blue"  
"And you have him"  
The Prince frowned. "No. Luck was kind to him. But we have his face, so everything else will be on our records. He will be vanquished and the stones recovered in due time"  
Robotnik nodded slowly. "Yes," he said, "I have a feeling this blue hedgehog is out of his depth."

Sonic awoke not so much because of the sun, but because of the heat it produced. Its rays imposed themselves upon the train carriage, and the black metal absorbed the heat until it began to work very much like a frying pan, and that wasn't a condition conductive to slumber. It would be unbearable before too long, and so he sat up and shielded his eyes from the brightness of the fiery ball in its unobstructed place, three-quarters of its distance across the stratosphere.  
There had been no dreams that night. Just a flat, heavy coma from which he remembered nothing. Two full nights with only microsleeps to allieviate his fatigue had put him into a powerful and deep rest, despite his uncomfortable bed. The demands of his body were beginning to feel like his biggest enemies on this journey. He would be hungry soon, too, and once again he had no food and no access to any. It was ironic that he'd just received more than enough for another week and a half, a gift from the eccentric aviator Flightless Joe, and had promptly lost the whole package, along with three of the Chaos Emeralds he had been sent to recover.  
(damn that fox) a voice in his mind croaked, (backstabbing turncoat little)  
(and whose fault is that?) another voice replied, (who drove him away)  
The train was stationary. It seemed to have reached its final destination. Sonic had slept through the whole night, the whole morning, and most of the afternoon. His first thought was that it was morning, but it was far too hot. The sun had been shining on Mobius all day, and it was in the western sky, not the east.  
He climbed the inner wall of the carriage to have a look around. They were in the desert somewhere, a vast landscape of red dirt and only the occasional skeletal plant or spinifex clump. The train was so long that Sonic couldn't see the front of it. He only saw a distant plume of black smoke where the engine must have been. With the hedgehog's feeble grip on geography he couldn't be certain, but he had a suspicion about where he was. Much of the continent - about a quarter of it, in fact - was devoured, he knew, by a sparse and empty wilderness. It was called the Crux Desert, officially, but it had a nickname as well, and one that was truly appropriate. People called it the Barren Quarter. That he might be stranded in this wasteland was a terrifying thought indeed, but he consoled himself with the logical conclusion that, if the train took him into the middle of the desert, then it would take him back out again.  
The train wasn't moving, though, and there were still enough daylight hours left to make the discomfort of his vessel a pressing concern. Already it was becoming difficult to touch the surface of the carriage, soon enough it would become unbearable. As the dark metal absorbed the heat of the sun and reflected it back onto him, he could feel his skin beginning to cook. The uncomfortable options were on the table - flee the carriage, brave the desert and risk missing his ride out, or stay and chance frying to death inside what was quickly becoming an oven on wheels.  
"Hey!" he shouted to nobody in particular. His voice echoed off the metal. "Get this tin can moving! What are you waiting for"  
What, indeed. It seemed inconceivable that anybody would take a train into the middle of the Barren Quarter and park it there. It brought another possibility to Sonic's attention - that the train may have broken down. This was probably the least attractive of the possibilities, because it suggested a lose or lose situation. Wandering through an unknown expanse of desert alone with no food or water wasn't an option he wanted to seriously ponder. He knew that following the tracks would eventually lead him out, but the nearest civilisation could have been an hour's walk away, or three weeks' journey.  
It was at this time that Sonic saw something on the otherwise flawless horizon. There were hills not too far away, about ten degrees to the left of the train's vanishing point, and what appeared to be a cave etched into the side.  
(you can make it there) that voice returned, whispering not through his ears but direct to his mind, (it's probably the only shade for miles)  
"Yeah," Sonic replied, "I'll get there, the train will leave and I'll starve to death in some dumb cave"  
(you'll die of thirst before you starve) the voice said, as if that was at all helpful.  
Of all his indecisiveness, it was the heat that made the decision for him. The heat was the most dire concern, and it simply had to be rectified. If he was doomed, he figured, he'd rather be doomed and cool. Once his skin stopped blistering he could worry all he wanted about what to do next.  
Sonic crawled out of the carriage and landed awkwardly on the hard, red dirt. It was more solid than he had expected, much of his knowledge of deserts being that they were made of sand. He picked himself up and began to jog towards the outcrop of rock, hoping idly that it was really there and not just some kind of halluscination. Sonic had heard about mirages, the way a desert could play with a wearied mind and create holograms, of water, shelter or whatever one desired the most. But the closer he came to it, the more real it seemed, until he actually placed a hand on the rock and stepped into the refreshing cool of the cave. He was sweating like crazy, which he knew wasn't good because it would dehydrate him before long, but at least he was out of the sun. The best news was that he wasn't as far from the train as he thought he would be. If he made sure to watch the train carefully, he could run towards it at the first sign that it was moving again, and climb aboard.  
However, it didn't take long for boredom to eat away at Sonic's plan. He watched the train for perhaps a half hour, cross-legged on the floor of the cave, with only his uneasy mind for company. His thoughts turned inevitably to the object he was wearing around his neck, Kethriel's drawstring satchel. He couldn't help wondering what was inside, and why he had been instructed not to open it and see. So many possibilities occurred to him. Some kind of communication device, or emergency rations, even a weapon of some kind. But none of them really made sense, because none of these would explain why he wasn't supposed to look. The temptation to take a peek was very strong, but it was the possibility he had come to realise must have been correct - the only explanation that made sense - that stopped him from doing so.  
The object inside the bag, he now knew, was some kind of bomb. It was a last resort, some final means of defense that he was supposed to unleash, should things turn out that badly for him. He didn't know whether opening the bag might trigger some form of detonation, so he curbed the urge to look. The Freedom Fighters were a group of militant rebels, after all, and although it was morbid, it made total sense that his death, should it come to that, should be made to inflict as much destruction upon the enemy as possible.  
The hedgehog sighed and looked up again at the completely inanimate train. "The public transport system around here sucks!" he shouted at it. The train made a mechanical hissing sound, as if in reply, but ultimately the thousands of tons of dark metal remained motionless. Sonic stood up and wandered deeper into the cave.  
It only just occurred to him that it was actually quite deep. Just beyond the mouth of the cave was a hole in the rock that gave access to a dark tunnel. Sonic checked the hole out for a moment, and then looked back to the train.  
(it'll take a while to start up again) the voice in his head told him, (you'll hear it starting up long before it's too fast to catch... go on, explore, this is an adventure after all)  
The hedgehog squeezed through the hole and found himself in a steeply declining tunnel. His eyes adjusted after a while, and he saw a beautiful cavern of red rock stretch out before him. He peeked out through the hole and could just see the top of the motionless train. Then he turned back to his exploration, his adventurous spirit drowning out everything else.  
The cave was tranquil, sublime, almost mystic. It was somehow cool despite the heat from above and below, and the thought occurred to him, to his growing delight, that there might be water nearby. As it went deeper into the rock, the tunnel also descended in a fairly steep decline. Sonic was careful to keep his footing as he explored. The cave took him quite a distance before the ground leveled out. The fact that he wouldn't be able to hear the train from here ceased to register with him. He found himself in a dark cavern with a low ceiling, and ducked his head to move about.  
It took him a while to actually notice what he was hearing subconsciously for quite a while. There was a rumbling sound, very deep and very soft, and he couldn't place where it was coming from. He crouched, and then put his hands on the rocky ground. There were soft vibrations below. It reminded him of the earthquakes in the Kirandul range, but it was different somehow, almost mechanical.  
(the train)  
He picked himself up at the spur of the moment and fled towards the mouth of the cave, suddenly afraid that his idle curiosity may have gotten him stranded in the Barren Quarter to die in the tunnel he had left his post to explore. He didn't get more than two steps, however. Something gave way beneath him. The floor of the cave, it turned out, was not the immovable slab of solid rock he had expected it to be, but it was thin and insubstantial, like walking on a wafer. The stone cracked open underneath his feet and he dropped into a deep hole in a shower of debris. It was a long fall, and it was only luck that he wasn't injured when he hit the bottom.  
Bruised and cut, he lay on his back, staring up at the hole above. It took a few moments to register that what he was lying on was wood, and that there was light around him. Not natural light, but the flickering orange light of many lanterns. He sat up and felt around beneath him. He was sitting on sleeper boards. The mechanical sound was louder, now, and unobscured. He realised he had stumbled into a mine shaft.

Hundreds of kilometres away in the grand palace of Mobitropolis, as the clock ticked down to catastrophe, an oblivious monarch and his ill-at-ease daughter shared an idle conversation away from the ever pressing concerns of the state. It was the subject matter that disturbed Sally, made her want to up and blurt out every detail of the secret rebellion behind the scenes of the city's stable facade. "Father," she wanted to say, "My brother is about to implement a plan to snatch the kingdom from you by force. Part of your government has defected to him, and soon they're going to tear this city apart from the inside and start a war against your own people"  
Looking into the old king's eyes, however, she held her tongue as fast as she always had. Her greatest fear was that he wouldn't believe such a thing, that a rebellion led by his own flesh and blood would be too horrible a premise for him to handle. It would shatter his fragile heart. But whether he truly believed or not, there was one thing that she knew as certain as anything - He would confront Martin personally, handle the situation as he handled every problem as king: directly and without being evasive. Such a thing might change Martin's strategy in untold ways, even trigger a war to begin immediately and be more disasterous than it otherwise would have been. For these reasons, Sally remained silent about her role in these dark events.  
It tore her up inside, though. She felt as though she were committing a minor betrayal of her own. It could be said of the naive old monarch that, to some degree, both of his children were conspiring against him. But she stood by her painful decision to wear her veil of secrecy for a while longer, even hoping that the situation could be resolved without him ever knowing that she played a part. It was with this hope that the princess revealed a degree of naivete of her own.  
The king smiled warmly and genuinely. "You grow more beautiful every day," he said, "A fairy tale princess, that's what you are. The fairest in the land"  
"Oh father, stop it," she replied, fighting back a childish giggle, "You're being silly"  
"I mean it," he said, and then his smile faded. He looked over his daughter's face as a master sculptor looks over his greatest artwork. "Do you remember the time I told you that you would be queen one day"  
Sally hesitantly nodded. She remembered only too well - for it had been that very conversation so long ago which had triggered the wheels of revolution to turn in the first place. King Acorn reached for his daughter's hand and held it between his.  
"Your brother has grown so distant lately, from me and from his responsibilities to the crown. Have you noticed this"  
"I couldn't very well say. Martin and I don't get along, Father. We haven't spoken much, not in years"  
"Yes... I know..." The king sighed and stared into space as he was habituated to do when he was deep in thought. "How do you feel about him, Sally"  
"I love him," she replied. It was the truth.  
"I think he loves you, too," her father replied, "I think he loves us both, and the kingdom as well. But he has such grand ideals, your brother. Ever since his obsession with research, he's had such great ambition beyond his ability to achieve. I think he's frustrated by impotence, and he masks it with agression." He paused. "This is a bad virtue for a ruler to have"  
"He's in too deep," Sally added, "I'm sure of it. He's a puppet to his own ideologies, I don't even think he can control himself anymore. I'd give anything to be able to help him, you know"  
It dawned on her that she had almost given away too much information, but if she had planted any suspicions in her father's mind, he didn't show it.  
"This is lovely," he said instead, frisking a jewelled necklace that she wore around her neck. Sally blushed a little. "I bought it from a merchant," she said.  
"Lovely," he repeated. He thought for a moment. "I want to show you something"  
She followed him out of one of the palace's many offices and towards one of the most secured areas of the palace. The treasure rooms, as they had come to be known, a series of vaults containing the most prized possessions of the Acorn clan. They moved past the regiments of faceless SWAT-bot guards and into the heart of the treasury. Ahead of them was the master vault containing the Crown Jewels - the ceremonial items never touched except during the inauguration of a monarch. The ceremonial crown, a golden scythe and flail, a torc, and a heavy necklace like a rosary in the shape of an ankh (a symbol representing enduring life). The crown was the most beautiful thing Sally had ever seen, and she was consistantly taken by the awe of it no matter how many times she saw it. A tall, sparkling tube of pure gold, arched on the front and encrusted with all manner of delicately shaped jewels. The largest was set in the peak of it, and it was a deep blue stone that almost seemed to have its own glow.  
"These jewels have been passed down for centuries," the king told Sally, "Passed down for so long that nobody remembers who made them. These items are older than the Acorns, possibly even older than the Greyblack wolves who ruled before us. A lot of history was destroyed in the Ridgewars, so nobody remembers who came before the Greyblack clan. I don't even think Martin can tell us that. These relics are an unchanged tradition, they are one with the history of Mobitropolis, and that is why they are special. But one item is particularly special"  
He indicated the blue gem encrusted in the crown's peak. "This is the Eye of Mobitropolis. They say it holds great power. The legend is that it is magical, that it protects the city against harm. They say it was donated by God Himself. This is a legend that has been passed from ruler to ruler as long as anyone can remember. It's probably as old as the jewels themselves"  
"Why are you telling me all of this now?" Sally asked.  
Her father looked at her with a very serious countenance. "I need to tell you these things," he said, "If I am to make a queen out of you"  
Sally stared into the misty depths of the blue jewel, unblinking, for a moment unbreathing. "You're serious," she said after a while, and tore away from the Eye of Mobitropolis to look into those of her father, also blue, as an unbreakable bond at once sparked between them.  
"On Sunday night," he said, "There is a feast being organised to celebrate the thirteenth century of Acorn rule. There will be a large gathering, and I am to present a speech after dinner. It is then that I intend to name my heir. I fear that Martin may create a scene, this is probably unavoidable, but I have nevertheless made my decision. I look at you and I look at your brother... in your eyes, I see the future of this kingdom is bright, and I see peace and benevolence for the next half century. I look at him, and I see nothing but chaos. I have nothing but love for my son. But my responsibilities to this kingdom run deeper. Nobody is going to take this news well, your being so young and your being female are going to shake up the traditionalists, but I don't want this ancient crown to touch anybody else's head but yours the next time it's taken out of its case"  
A tear ran along Sally's petite snout. Again she contemplated telling her father everything, but she quickly dismissed the thought. Martin, she knew, was indeed going to make a scene. He was going to make enough of a scene to raze an empire.

Sonic didn't have a lot of room in which to move around. The ceiling of the shaft eventually descended to the point where it was impossible for him to even stand, and so he crawled along the tracks of what seemed to be a tunnel into infinity. The sense of mining such an arid wasteland was lost on him. What were they looking for? Sonic knew little about minerals and mines. He knew that oil was found in the desert, but that was drilled, not mined. He raked at the wall for a moment, half-expecting to find gold or jewels. Nothing came away but clumps of ordinary dirt and a few rocks.  
He heard something behind him, and almost disregarded it until he realised that the sound was coming from the very same shaft that he was crawling through. A distant rolling-clattering, like a bowling ball on an aluminium roof. It was getting closer, and very quickly. Sonic sped up his crawl, but the lack of space meant that he couldn't just get up and outrun the approaching object. With his natural speed but unnatural movement he looked like an injured cheetah. At last he found that he was able to stand upright, but before he could sprint away, something came out of the darkness behind him. It was some kind of motorised trolley, an empty cart travelling along the tracks at a phenomenal speed. It struck him on the shins and barrelled him over backwards. Crying out, he landed inside the cart, and for better or worse he went with it.  
The tunnel ended, and Sonic propped his head over the side. The cart was running on a rail bridge over a massive underground chasm. He was blown away by the scale of it. Something had simply eaten thousands of tonnes of soil and rock, tore it out of Mobius' crust in one greedy scoop. This was not a delicate operation, but an obliteration. There was something under the Barren Quarter that was of great worth to somebody, and they were clearly willing to move the planet aside to get to it.  
It didn't take long for Sonic to realise who was doing the digging and why. He saw mighty machines in the chasm below, ripping and churning into the ground, drilling and scooping. Robots populated the caves, heavy bipedal walkers with tools for arms, smaller utility droids scurrying about like worker ants, stout half-upright monstrosities with caterpiller wheels instead of legs and drills on their arms and faces. The very cart that Sonic was riding inside was its own pilot. Sonic had stumbled into one of Prince Martin's robot-run emerald mines, and if there was anything alive within a dozen kilometres then he was yet to see it.  
The cart traversed the bridge and reached the other side, entering another tunnel, although this one was braced with metal and there was machinery around him. The cart stopped (the action so sudden that it almost threw out its hedgehog cargo) and before he knew what was happening, a hole opened above him and a load of dirt was dumped on top of him. It hurt. He cried out, but he was quickly muffled by a mouthful of grainy soil. Buried alive, Sonic clawed at the dirt which was thankfully loose enough for him to burrow out of it fairly quickly. He coughed and spluttered, and almost threw up. "Sure am glad I'm not a worm," he commented, "I wouldn't be able to handle the diet"  
The cart started moving again, and Sonic felt like a houseplant growing out of a pot of dirt until he was finally brought to an open cavern and he climbed out. The cart vanished into another dark tunnel, and Sonic watched as a dozen more followed. He was now able to figure out why empty trains were being driven into the middle of the Crux Desert and parked. All this missing dirt had to go somewhere. He was suddenly grateful for having bailed out of the empty train's carriage when he had the chance - having his own weight in dirt dumped on top of him was one thing, but a hundred tonnes of it was entirely another.  
He walked through a winding tunnel and found himself walking along a braced ledge over the great chasm. There was very little between him and a dizzying drop into what could have been the centre of Mobius, and he quickly learned that looking down was a bad idea. Across the abyss, along the far wall, were many rows of ledges like his own, each lighted by many flickering lanterns. He realised that the paths through this cave were like corkscrews, a series of twisting ramps descending all the way into the pit. He stood at the railing for a moment and tried to take it all in.  
It was then that Sonic saw Knuckles the Echidna for the first time, though by no means the last. The blood red mobian stood much like he himself did, at the railing alongside a ledge on the opposite side of the chasm. He looked pensively downward into the black gorge. Sonic didn't know what race this strange figure belonged to, but yet he had seen it before.  
(the red people)  
In the underground ruin, Sonic had been shown brief visions of these people, running and dying in their hundreds, a deeply disturbing image that he had disregarded as a dream. Were the red people just another factor in the fragmented memory of his past? The hedgehog stood dumfounded at the physical manifestation of what he had hitherto regarded a product of his overactive imagination.  
Shaken from his awed state, he suddenly realised that he was as visible to the red person as vice versa. The stranger wasn't looking in his direction, so he ducked away before he was spotted. The red person wandered back into the darkness of the caves.  
Sonic decided it was time to figure out where he was going and what he was doing. What he needed was a ride out of the desert, and so his best course of action was probably to find a path to where the trains were being loaded. He stood at the railing again and looked around the caves. As he did, he became aware of a buzzing noise, its origin ambiguous, growing steadily louder. Concerned, he tried to figure out where it was coming from. It seemed to originate from the chasm itself. Looking down, he saw something small and fast flying up toward him. It was like a very large insect, but with a sweeping searchlight emitted from the front, it revealed itself as just another kind of robot. There were several of them now, zipping about, scouring the area with their lights. This mine didn't lack its security measures, it seemed.  
Opting not to be seen, Sonic ducked into the darkness, but in his haste he slipped and began to slide down a steep trail. Something strange happened as he tumbled - a kind of defensive reflex that had never happened to him before as far as he could remember, which was admittedly not very far. He pulled his knees up either side of his head, crossed his arms between them, and rolled. His body slipped into the position so easily that it was as though his body was built for it. In this perpetual spin, he picked up speed and virtually dashed down the incline. It felt like falling, and it was now that he remembered he had indeed done this once before, only the previous day, spin-dashing across the field after leaping from Joe's Tornado.  
This was perhaps not the most ideal environment for such a stunt. He struck rocks as he dashed, and they hurt. But he didn't feel as though he were entirely in control, as though his body's instincts were calling the shots now and all he could do was let the auto-pilot run and sit back and take it. His direction changed noticeably. Now he was falling straight down. His body uncurled itself and he saw he was freefalling into the darkness. He had just enough time for the possibility of death to cross his mind before his head struck a rock and the darkness filled him like water in a sinking ship.

The wheeled and drill-limbed robots that Sonic had seen earlier were known to the biological members of the mining crew as grounders. Bulky and unintelligent, the grounders moved slowly and tank-like on caterpillar wheels, gathering wherever they were needed and using a number of powerful drill attachments to bore through rock and clay.  
A congregation of grounders numbering in their dozens were gathered at an eastern point of the caves, working to break up a particularly resiliant wall of stone. Behind them, two massive bipedal drillwalkers moved into place, and a vulture in overalls, dirt-encrusted and dripping with sweat from head to talon, smoked a cigar and shouted abuse at the robots as they went about their work.  
Knuckles approached from behind, cringing at the loud noises. It was a particularly enthusiastic digging operation.  
"Carrion," he shouted, and the vulture turned around to meet him.  
"These things are great!" Carrion exclaimed, "Swear at them all you like, it doesn't faze them a bit. They just go right on with their work. Try it"  
"No thanks," Knuckles replied.  
"Come on you mongrel things, put some sodding effort into it! You dig like a one-armed grandmother with a damned teaspoon!" Carrion screamed.  
"Bad day?" Knuckles asked.  
"Like you wouldn't believe, my friend," the vulture replied, "Bad day, bad week, bad month. I suppose you've heard about the blue blur"  
"Uh, vaguely. I usually hear the term accompanied with some amount of venom"  
"Not surprising. He's a threat to this whole operation, some damned blue hedgehog souped up on steroids and stealing emeralds"  
This got Knuckles' attention. "What do you mean, stealing emeralds"  
"Just what I said. While we're digging Lucky Six out of the ground, the Blue Pest is zipping about the continent and stealing the ones we've already found. Just collecting them, like bottlecaps. A million laser-shooting robots can't even graze him"  
"Why would he want to do that?" Knuckles demanded.  
"Hired, probably," Carrion replied, "There's a lot of treasures on Mobius, and sometimes the treasure hunters go rogue and give in to the highest bidder. I had a colleague for a while, Nack was his name, complete loon. We were working together on the Time Stones recovery project, this was almost a decade ago. We found the stones intact, and as soon as my back was turned, the nutbag took them for himself and escaped overseas, never saw him again. Sometimes people just have no honour at all, Knux. This blue blur is one of them, and it's a problem for me because His Snooty Majesty the not-quite-King of Mobitropolis says I don't see a cent until I hand over a perfect seven"  
His last few words were masked by the cacophonic din of the stone wall giving way from the pressure of the drillwalkers. Three grounders were crushed by falling boulders, and many more were knocked off their wheels.  
"Well it's a problem for me, too," Knuckles replied, frustrated, "I'm co-operating with these people under the strict condition that I get the emeralds at the end of it all. What the hell kind of operation is this anyway? They tell me to be careful who I talk to, or to play it safe and just not talk to anybody. They have me moving under cover of darkness. Now the emeralds are being spirited away by some mysterious blue hedgehog who nobody knows anything about"  
"I don't ask questions," Carrion replied, "I never ask questions. Does seem like a little more than just a scientific research project, though, doesn't it. Now hello, what do we have here"  
The vulture stepped into the cavern that had been uncovered behind the stone wall, all the while puffing on his cigar.  
"Isn't that dangerous in a mine?" Knuckles asked.  
"What? The smoke? That's another benefit of these dumb robots, Knux, they're better at detecting gas leaks than any canary on the planet"  
The cavern turned out to be a massive chamber, and not a creation of nature. Murals covered the smoothed walls of the cave, pictures of echidnas, animals and gems.  
"My stars..." Knuckles was instantly spellbound upon entering the chamber. Carrion was ecstatic, almost jumping about with excitement, laughing and shouting.  
"Bingo!" the vulture exclaimed, "Bingo! Hot damn, Knuckles, we did it! You did it! The sixth emerald chamber! By god, it would have taken me another year to find this"  
There was a brilliant green light filling the ancient room, emitted from a pedestal in the center. The sixth Chaos Emerald to be recovered was the most brilliant thus far. Knuckles was stunned by the concept that this stone had been filling this tiny room deep under Mobius' surface with its brilliant green light for thousands of years, and it was still so bright. The echidna noticed that the walls themselves had a glow of their own, glittering with their own multicoloured light. He pressed his face and belly against the wall, running his arms and hands over its smoothness. "The glittering walls," he said, "Just like on the island"  
"The walls are cemented with emerald-rich soil," Carrion explained, "It's less pure than the Chaos Emeralds, but the shards are the same substance. We call it emerald, but it's not really." He picked up the green Chaos Emerald and admired it. "It's an element known to science as Entropium. Possibly the rarest naturally-forming element in the known universe, definitely the rarest on Mobius. It has a half-life of a billion years. Doesn't occur naturally on this continent at all. But somehow, the echidnas found so much of the stuff that it was worth less to them than sand. To us, however... every brick in this chamber is worth enough on its own to make me salivate"  
Knuckles couldn't hear Carrion talking anymore. It seemed to him that he could hear his ancestors whispering to him from these stone and emerald walls. A tear ran down the echidna's cheek as though he had found his way home after a long time away.

Sonic climbed a ladder in his dream.  
It was a long and winding ladder into infinity, so long that it vanished into a point in both directions, disappearing into the all-consuming blackness. One side was a bright blue, the other red, and the rungs were a gradient compromise. Not a straight ladder, but one that curved around and around as he climbed. It made him nauseus, but he couldn't stop. He could never stop.  
Something was chasing him. It was the Master. Sonic was finally making his escape from this torturous prison, and he couldn't let the terrible beast, the bringer of woe, to catch him.  
But as he climbed, the ladder became difficult to hold on to. It swayed and flexed, twisted and squirmed out of his grasp. He looked up and realised his terrible mistake... there were no rungs, just two squirming tubes that reared up and twisted back upon him - snakes. Thrashing, furious snakes. They hissed their outrage at his transgression and moved to devour him at once.  
The hedgehog woke up sweating. His emotions wracked by the invasion of another horrible nightmare. And he did consider it an invasion, these unwanted glimpses of a repressed past, memories that he had locked away lest he go mad.  
And yet he was curious. There was an itch within him that he couldn't seem to satisfy, a desire for knowledge, a kind of closure. What were the snakes? Why did they haunt him? He racked his brain for a moment. He didn't know anything about dream psychology. Was there something significant about blue and red snakes?  
The Prince of Mobitropolis, now that was a snake. He suddenly realised where he was and what he was doing - certainly not the time or the place for a self-analysis. How long had he been knocked out? Five minutes? Five hours? It didn't seem like it had been a long time, but then it was hard to tell with no sunlight in the caverns.  
With what little light he did have, he inspected the immediate area to see where he was. He saw something wet on the ground, and touched it... sticky. It was red on his fingers. Blood. Tenderly he touched his head and found a swollen and very painful area behind his left temple. He remembered now that he had fallen some distance, and checked his body for damage. A few bruises, but no broken limbs or gashes. His head had stopped bleeding. It mustn't have been that far a fall after all. Lucky.  
He didn't get the feeling that he was very deep underground. The air was stale down here, and it was much darker than the rest of the mine, there not being nearly as many lanterns nearby. Sonic squinted in the dark to try and locate some clue as to where he was. He saw several very large wooden boxes, like shipping crates, packed atop one another. A storage area? The walls were reinforced as though this were a more permanant room than most of the tunnels in this mine. What was being stored here he didn't know, and wasn't even particularly interested. He just wanted to find his way out and back to civilisation.  
Sonic grasped Kethriel's secret bomb, still tied around his neck. His head throbbed a deep, dull pain, and his thoughts turned to the increasing frequency - and disturbing complexity - of his nightmares. The changes taking place in Mobitropolis and the world, they were much bigger than he was. He had been seeing images of his own past, but he couldn't help but think that the images coming to him also related to a terrible and near future. But for now Sonic wandered about the caves without an immediate destination. He left the storage area for another tunnel, this one much more brightly lit, and walked slowly in a completely random direction, idly dragging his fingers along the wall. There weren't any mechanical sounds nearby, so he figured nobody was digging anything around here. This area seemed built for a different purpose. Administration, perhaps. His sighting of the mysterious red person revealed that there were indeed organics down here, running this operation.  
He heard a buzzing sound that almost made his heart sink. He supposed that it had been naive to think that his short spin-dash and resulting fall had done anything less than call attention to his presence. Looking back towards the warehouse he had fallen into, Sonic saw three points of light trailing his path. Three of the robot beetles, mechanical fireflies with spotlight beacons, had followed him, and were currently engaged in an inquisitive quest to discover just who he was and what he was doing here.  
Stunned momentarily, Sonic froze in place and was caught in their searchlights. Three beacons shone over themselves and focused on him - a deer in their headlights, or a hedgehog to be precise.  
But Sonic's idle surprise didn't control his body for long. He soon discovered that he was not a hedgehog built for fear. It was not in his nature.  
"Hi!" he exclaimed, and gave them a wave.  
The sentries buzzed, and their beacons brightened as red lights on their sides began flashing and pulsing computations.  
"Bye," Sonic said, and waved farewell. Without a moment wasted, he turned tail and fled down the hallway in a cloud of dust and soil. The drones followed without hesitation, and Sonic quickly learned that, at full blast, they travelled almost as fast as he did. They didn't shoot at him, but he figured they had another equally sinister purpose which would probably become apparent soon enough. Speed wasn't going to suffice - he needed to lose these bugs.  
As luck would have it, a door was embedded into the wall of the cave. It was wooden and rickety, quickly constructed and just as expendable. Nevertheless, it would help. Sonic threw it open, his inertia almost ripping it from its hinges, and slammed it shut, listening from the other side.  
As he had hoped they were, the fireflies were insufferably stupid. He heard the buzzing approach, pass, and die down.  
Relieved, he began to open the door to step out again.  
There was a click behind him, and a voice said simply, "I wouldn't"  
Now Sonic turned for the first time to see where he had found himself. He had stepped inside some kind of office. The foreman's quarters, he realised. There was a desk with a computer and an assortment of stationary. All of it had the air of a temporary setup. Behind the desk sat a vulture, and in the vulture's hands was a gun. He reclined casually and pointed the weapon in such a way as it looked like he had little intention of using it.  
Sonic recognised him after a moment. The same vulture had threatened him with the same gun just the previous day, at the hill top bunker. He was a crony of Prince Martin.  
The hedgehog again moved to open the door and flee, but the vulture reiterated his warning.  
"Run away," he said, "and in ten seconds I will have a million robots so far up your rear end that you'll be able to taste metal"  
Sonic closed the door.  
"Word is that you can dodge bullets," the vulture said. Unexpectedly, he stopped aiming his gun, and insead placed the weapon on the desk in front of him. "The terrifying and mysterious blue blur, bane of my existence. I saw you move yesterday, quite a pair of legs you've got on ya. Maybe you can run right over here and grab this gun before I have a chance to snatch it back, maybe you can't, either way there's not much a gun can do for either of us down here. The way I figure it, there's not much that threats can do for us right now, all we can really do is talk"  
Sonic was a little surprised, and he considered the vulture's dare to grab the gun from the desk.  
"You want to shoot the breeze?" he asked.  
"Why not? I was hoping I'd get a chance to talk to you. I suspected you'd show up here, now that there's an emerald to be had. I'm a little surprised that you came bursting into my office like this, but it's all good"  
"I was raised never to talk to strangers," Sonic commented.  
"Why be strangers?" the vulture asked, "Heck, it feels like we're the best of friends already. Allow me to introduce myself. Carrion's the name. Rhes el Carrion. And so it finally comes down to the big important question: Just who, the bloody hell, are you"  
"I'm Pennywise the Dancing Clown," Sonic replied.  
"Cute," Carrion said. "Whoever you are, you've caused quite a ruckas. The robots even have a codename for you, now. 'Priority Hedgehog'." He reached under his desk and withdrew a packet of cigarettes. "Smoke"  
"No thanks"  
"Got addicted to the things back in high school. Don't get me wrong, I can quit any time I want. I've quit about ten times now, as a matter of fact." He clamped one of the cigarettes in his hooked beak and lit it up.  
"Look, what do you want from me?" Sonic demanded.  
"Understanding," the vulture said, "Mutual understanding. Heck, maybe we can even work something out, a compromise, wouldn't that be something. The truth is, you're a thorn in my side. I work for a living, and I've worked too hard and come too far to have you just screw it all up for me now"  
"Well that's just too bad. Seems as though you're in the wrong line of work"  
Carrion dragged on his smoke. "I was hoping we could do business, you and I. Everyone has his price, even a scoundrel like yourself. That's probably why you're here in the first place, is it not? Perhaps I can offer you a better deal"  
"What are you talking about?" Sonic asked.  
"I'm talking about a share in the profits," Carrion replied, "At this point I'll be happy to finish this job with any payment at all. It's been one disaster after another, even before you came along and started buggering up all my years of blood, sweat and tears. Someone other than His Royal Narkiness has his eye on these emeralds, that I know for sure. Just let me know how much he's paying you and maybe we can arrange a better deal, you and I. If not, then we're just going to have to do things the hard way"  
Sonic took a moment to try and comprehend what Carrion was talking about. Then it dawned on him, all at once. "You think I'm being paid to steal the emeralds for someone"  
"Well?" the vulture asked, "Aren't you"  
"Wait a second." Sonic ignored the question. "You're not a part of this. You're just another pawn in the game"  
"Hey there, whoooa, this bird is no pawn, pipsqueek"  
"You really have no idea what you're doing, do you"  
Carrion scowled, for a long time glowering at the hedgehog in silence, trying to figure out how to react to the strange turn that this conversation had taken.  
"You listen to me," he said at last, "I know what I'm doing better than anyone on Mobius, alive or dead, has ever dreamed. Rhes el Carrion knows his relics. I know them better than you, of that you can be assured"  
"Okay then," Sonic ventured, "So you know what you're doing"  
"Darned straight"  
"But do you know why"  
"Damn why!" Carrion exclaimed, "'Why' is the question that hinders prosperity! You want to start asking questions, the next thing you know, you don't want to do anything for anyone in this stinking world. People have been whining about my involvement in this for six years. You know what? I tell them the same thing every time. I do this because I love the work, and I love the pay. Nothing else matters"  
"So I guess you wouldn't care if I told you that Prince Martin plans on using these emeralds to wipe out thousands of people in the most degrading and horrible death you can imagine"  
"Says you," Carrion replied, "But you haven't exactly proven yourself trustworthy. What kind of game are you trying to play, here? Trying to appeal to my conscience so that I'll just hand over the rest of the emeralds to you so you can have the full set"  
Sonic threw his arms up into the air. "I lost the emeralds!" he exclaimed, "I don't have any of them! It wouldn't do me any good to try and start again now, the prince probably has all seven of them in his desk drawer as we speak"  
"Six," Carrion corrected, "I'll have you know that the seventh is still buried, and that's one gem that you're not going to get your grubby hands on"  
"I'm just trying to tell you the truth," Sonic said, "I'm just trying to give you a chance"  
"Read my beak," replied the vulture, "I. Don't. Care. My policy is unbiased equal oppertunity. My hands are clean, you're the thief, take your own advice. And if I can't negotiate with you, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you down, buddy. I switched on the silent alarm about ten minutes ago, and I think the cavalry just arrived"  
"What"  
The rickety door swung open on its hinges, and two SWAT-bots pushed through, another three waiting outside, and probably countless more out of sight.  
"Priority hedgehog!" the SWATs droned, "Apprehend"  
"No!" Sonic shouted, and backed up against the desk.  
"Sorry, kid, but I have to protect my investment," Carrion said.  
Sonic, enraged and desperate, swung around as fast as his body could move, and in considerably less than one second, he had snatched the gun from the desk, and had the barrel pressed against Rhes el Carrion's forehead. Everyone stopped moving, robots, vulture and hedgehog. A few grains of ash trickled from Carrion's smoke to the desk.  
"Not smart, kid," the vulture said, "The SWAT-bot rules of engagement are very simple, and in hostage situations they're programmed to shoot to kill"  
"Call them off!" Sonic shrieked. He began sweating profusely - he'd never threatened somebody's life before. He wasn't even sure he knew how to fire a gun.  
"Or else what?" Carrion shouted back, "That thing isn't even loaded! You think I'm stupid enough to point a loaded gun at someone who can dodge bullets? Why don't I just shoot myself in the head"  
The SWAT-bots, apparently understanding that there was no danger, marched forward and grabbed Sonic's arms and legs with iron strength. The hedgehog swore and cursed, fighting the machines like a child throwing a tantrum. His captors were as calm as stone as they carried him away.  
Rhes el Carrion sat back in his chair and smoked. He watched the open doorway for a long time, and pondered.

Knuckles the Echidna sat in a large, open room in a well-lit cavern, sheets of paper spread out before him in a wide arc. He concentrated on the archaic rubbings printed on them, runes and symbols, heiroglyphs and pictures. Messages that only an echidna, heir to the knowledge of the ancients, could understand.  
"North by northwest," he muttered, "East as the crow flies, then straight on through the valley of shadows." He consulted a giant modern-day world map he had spread out to the side, and began scribbling markings on it.  
There were already markings printed on this map, and he had pinpointed each one with dedicated precision. Six crosses, spread all over the continent in a seemingly erratic and patternless chaos. It figured. Chaos was appropriate.  
One cross was scrawled over a featureless area of the Crux Desert, the words 'green here' scribbled almost illegibly beneath it. Now the echidna made some new markings, and consulted the glyphs again.  
"Bingo!" he exclaimed, and turned back to the map to scrawl another cross. His pen stopped halfway, though, and he frowned as he inspected the map more closely.  
He was about to mark a cross directly on top of the city of Mobitropolis.  
"Odd..." he said to himself.

It was an hour later when Carrion walked about in the blazing heat outside the emerald mine. It was about five thirty in the afternoon, and he was speaking to Prince Martin on his cellular phone, the prince miles away in the comfort of Mobitropolis' royal palace.  
"Nothing but good news for you today," Carrion declared, "We dug up another emerald. Pretty green one, perfect condition just like the others. Not only that, but I've caught the blue blur, the Priority Hedgehog himself. He's just waiting to be put somewhere"  
"Excellent, excellent," Martin replied, "And you've recovered the three that he stole"  
"Well, uh," the vulture paused, "Uh, no... they weren't on him, I don't know where they are. The kid says that he's lost them, but I dunno for sure unless"  
"Lost them?" the prince shrieked, "He's lost them? You idiot! Find them"  
"Did you just call me an idiot?" Carrion asked.  
"Yes! Make no mistake, Carrion, I'm starting to regret hiring you for this. Your job is to find me the emeralds. How many times do I have to remind you of that? Find them"  
"And what more, exactly, am I supposed to do here, Princey? If I had a magical emerald detector, I would have found you all seven of them years ago"  
"I don't care what you do!" the prince shrieked, "You have the hedgehog there, interrogate him"  
"Interrogate him yourself!" Carrion snapped back, "You're so good at it, you're the one who threatened to break his fingers and toes"  
"No..." Martin replied, "No, I can't have him here..." He thought about it for a moment, then, "Send him to Robotnik"  
"And where, pray tell, is Robotnik"  
"Acornex Oil. Rig number... seven seven six. There was a problem there recently, and he's gone to sort it all out. There's a transport heading out there tomorrow morning, make sure the hedgehog is on it"  
"Aye aye, Captain Wacko," Carrion replied, but the prince had already hung up the phone. Now Carrion stood alone, watching the sun as it began to kiss the horizon. The rail loading station was nearby, and a train began to slowly pull away as the mining operation wrapped itself up. Steam burst from the engine in a hissing roar, and the train picked up speed. Carriages laden with minerals hauled past him.  
Knuckles approached, a suitcase by his side.  
"I've located the seventh emerald," he said, "You'll never guess where it is"  
"Hold that thought," Carrion replied, "Wait here and I'll bring the jeep around"  
"Okay"  
The vulture shambled off through the dirt and sand, past the rail station and toward his jeep. It would be very good to see the last of the Barren Quarter, scorching and desolate as it was. As he lit up a cigarette, he spotted something glittering out of the corner of his eye.  
He stopped to look. It was coming from a large pile of garbage that had accumulated here. The robots had just dumped all their waste in one place without even trying to be discreet or keep it out of the way.  
There was something interesting lying amongst the wrecked robot parts, gaskets and rags. It was a brown bag, a backpack of some kind. Carrion approached it and poked it with a stick.  
He almost swallowed his cigarette when he saw that the bag contained three slightly dusty but otherwise radiant Chaos Emeralds. The mouve, red and grey emeralds sat together in the discarded bag as if waiting to be found.  
"Stupid robots," Carrion murmured to himself. He looked to the left and the right, but nobody was watching as he snatched the bag and held it under his arm. The train blew its final whistle as it chugged away towards the sinking sun.


	10. Oil Ocean

PROJECT MOBITROPOLIS  
S Peter Davis 

All characters (C) SEGA, Archie and SP Davis 2004.  
Used without permission

* * *

OIL OCEAN

Sonic was jolted awake by the harsh and loud movements of the train, its carriages screeching and grinding against each other. It had happened innumerable times during the night, which, combined with his nervousness and agitation, did not serve to rest him very well. He mused that his ride in the metal basin of the empty cargo carriage had given him a much healthier night's sleep than the padded passenger bay.  
It might have had something to do with the SWAT-bots who stood around him, watching his every move. His feet were tied together with a heavy chain, so any possible escape would have been made via enthusiastically walking to safety, a method he doubted he could pull off with any great success. His speed was clearly infamous, judging by the precautions his captors had taken.  
It was morning, now. He could see the light filtering through the cracks between the wooden planks composing the carriage. Drowsy, he lifted his head to see if the robots had moved at all since the previous evening. They hadn't.  
The train stopped completely soon afterwards, and Sonic was marched outside by his robotic guards. The Barren Quarter was thankfully far behind him, but now he found himself in a desert of concrete and metal. He had been taken to some ambiguous facility, the purpose of which he neither knew nor cared to know. Beyond the train station was a building surrounded by razor wire and a large open concrete platform covered in painted yellow circles and lines. He was being taken towards this platform, and he went willingly - resisting arrest by these machines had earned him nothing but bruises for his effort.  
There was a strange chopping noise coming from above, and Sonic looked up to try and locate its source. A black dot in the sky to the east slowly grew as it came towards him. When he was able to discern what it was, he realised it was a helocopter, though no kind he had ever seen before. It was sleek and dark blue, with no angular parts whatsoever, and no visible landing gear. He couldn't quite work out what looked so queer about this contraption, why it seemed so different and wrong. It was painted with a logo that Sonic remembered vividly - it was the Acornex logo, he had seen it at Prince Martin's chemical plant in Station Square.  
The helicopter descended as it approached, and three legs slid out gracefully from underneath. The sound of its rotors was distressingly quiet, even as it landed on the concrete pad mere meters from where Sonic stood. As he pondered this, he all at once realised why the helicopter looked so weird. It didn't have a windshield. The opaque blue metal covered the entire machine with no openings save for the single door in its side. He wondered idly how the pilot saw where he was going, but knew that it was a stupid question to ask considering his present company. This was just another robot, its mobian pilot made redundant. Sonic was suddenly overcome with a fierce sensation of loneliness. He was interacting with machines, unthinking golems driven by nothing but base physics, no different to the rocks and the concrete. There wasn't anything capable of thought for as far as the eye could see. He now had a glimpse of what life would be like in Mobitropolis if the rebels had their way, and he shuddered at the image.  
A lone SWAT-bot accompanied him onto the chopper, and it lifted off again, flying east in the direction from whence it came. There was a small window on the door through which Sonic could see out. After a few minutes, the coast came into view beneath, and the pilotless machine followed the edge of the ocean in ominous near-silence.

"You can't actually understand me, can you"  
Prince Martin Acorn stared at one of the robot guards that stood sentry outside his quarters. The SWAT-bot, one of thousands of identical machines mass produced on the assembly line at the Iron Ward, fearless and unmoving, did not respond.  
These contraptions sickened him. Their necessity was clear to him, and he knew that their role in the coming events was about to be brought to the forefront. That didn't mean he had to like them.  
"Do I really want to make half of my kingdom like you?" he asked. Again the robot offered no wisdom on the subject.  
Robotization. The final castigation. The full surgical removal of the most debilitating affliction of a worker's body - his free will. For that was what stood between empires and their greatness. There was no propoganda in existence powerful enough to fully remove a mobian's ability to say "I don't want to work". Indolence was Mobitropolis' disease, and the Kingdom of King Martin was the final cure.  
He stepped inside his office, his eyes moving over the volumes of historical texts in his personal library. He sat down at his large antique desk, brushed his hands habitually across the dustless surface, and looked out into the city. The sun was rising over Mobitropolis. He couldn't help musing with a smile that it would never set again.  
A shout of surprise at the door startled him, and he saw that the robot guards had caught somebody trying to enter. It was Rhes el Carrion. The vulture grunted with frustration and tried to reclaim his limbs from the vice grip of the SWAT-bots.  
The prince snorted and gave a hand gesture, forgetting that he was addressing machines. When the gesture didn't work, he shouted a little too loudly, "Release him, you idiots"  
The robots complied, and Carrion composed himself, straightening his tie and brushing the dust from his suit. He carried a briefcase into the prince's office and took the liberty of sitting down.  
Martin, denying his visitor the honour of his full attention, took instead to perusing his vast collection of history tomes. "What do you want?" he asked. He slid a book from its place in the shelf and took it with him back to the desk.  
"I wanted to go over the specifics of our arrangement," Carrion replied, "Now that my work is almost done"  
"Where is the hedgehog?" Martin asked. He cracked open the book and never made eye contact. "This 'blue blur', this filthy thief"  
"He's on his way to the rigs, I saw him off myself. Are you going to try to usurp King Acorn"  
The question shocked the prince into looking directly into the vulture's eyes for the first time. "What did you say"  
"You heard me"  
What followed was several minutes of staring, a silent war between them. Martin blinked first, which only intensified his growing rage. His face flushed to an alarming degree.  
"How... how dare you? How dare you make an accusation like that? What would make you think that I would do such a thing? To my beloved father"  
"These rumours get around, Princey," Carrion replied, "People talk"  
"And what would you care?" Martin shrieked, "I'm not paying you to be political, I'm paying you to dig up emeralds! You told me that you were impartial"  
"True, and I stand by that. But there's a little problem, you see. My home country has a political alliance with Mobitropolis, and that spells trouble when you start talking about civil war. I can't help but think about what's going to happen if you try to start a rebellion and you bugger it up. The government is going to start arresting people who have fingers in this pie, and after they're done in Mobitropolis, they're going to start hunting blood abroad. The next thing you know, I'm being extradited for high treason"  
"You're mad," the prince said, "You're completely mad! There is no rebellion, Carrion! What do you want, assurances?" He was near hysterics at this point, an intimidating sight to behold.  
"I'm beyond that, now," Carrion replied, "What I want is insurance. It's going to take a lot more money to make me comfortable with this deal. And I can't work unless I'm comfortable. I'm afraid I'm going to have to double my price"  
The prince's rage seemed to drain away in an instant, like a bubble that had been popped. A look of bewilderment covered his face for a moment, and then he almost seemed amused.  
"For what?" he asked, "What have you done for me so far, Carrion? I asked you to find me two more emeralds, and instead you lost three. In fact, my patience with your work is beginning to wear thin"  
Carrion responded by lifting his briefcase and sitting it on his lap. He worked the lock and clicked open the clasps, opening the case and displaying its contents to the prince.  
The case contained four Chaos Emeralds. They lay snug in a bed of styrofoam wrapping, and glowed with all the brilliance they always had. The mouve, the green, the grey and the red.  
"Four emeralds," Carrion said, "You still have another two, those are freebees. Just out of the kindness of my heart. There's one more still buried and that makes seven. I know where it is, so if I get excavation started today, I can put the whole collection in your hands by Sunday evening. Signed, sealed, delivered, just like I said. Or, I can walk out of here right now and go straight home, give you a shovel and let you do your own treasure hunting"  
"And what makes you think I need you?" Martin asked, "I have the echidna. He knows where the emerald is, and I don't even have to pay him"  
"I don't think you quite understand, Martin my boy. If I walk out of here, I'm taking these emeralds with me. I put six years of my life into digging these things up, so I'll be damned if I'm leaving with nothing"  
Martin's eyes narrowed. In the time he had known Carrion, he knew enough about him to know when the vulture was having a lark and when he was deadly serious. This was one of the latter occasions.  
"You're starting down a road, Carrion," the prince said, "You should stop now and think very carefully about where you're going, because there might be no way back"  
"That sounds like a threat," the vulture replied. He snapped the briefcase shut. "That's not a good way to negotiate, it might just be a dealbreaker"  
"There is no deal," Martin corrected.  
"You're really going to let these just walk out of the door?" Carrion stood up and began to march out of the room. He turned just before the door and waggled the briefcase dramatically for Martin's benefit. "The emeralds are walking, Princey"  
The prince and the archaeologist locked into a battle of intimidation, staring icy daggers at each other from across the room. This time, Martin didn't blink.  
"Majesty," he said, under his breath.  
"What"  
"You will call me Majesty, you lowlife charlatan"  
An extra presence in the room made Carrion turn his head, and now the two SWAT-bots who had been standing guard outside the prince's quarters were inside the room, motionless behind him like massive golems. Carrion was taken aback, he guffawed in disbelief at the prince's gall.  
"What are you going to do? Arrest me"  
"It's better than cutpurses and thieves deserve," Martin replied, "You're no better than any other pickpocket on the streets of this accursed city. The only difference is that you make a show of it"  
Rhes el Carrion laughed again, turning to leave. "See you on the front page, Lord Fathead. Take your money and shove- hey"  
The robots grabbed him by the arms, the shock of his seizure making him drop the case. It broke open, and the emeralds spilled onto the floor.  
"Vile things, no class about them at all," Martin commented with a chilling cool about his visage. It seemed as though his fury had overloaded his emotion, melted down his soul into so much scrap, and now he was disturbingly calm. "Disgusting. Idiotic, but wise. They serve me with all their energy. They know better than half the living things in this kingdom, but that is going to change"  
Now it was Carrion's turn to lose his temper. "You can't do this!" he shrieked, "I'm an expatriot! You can't touch me! This is against international law, the king will crucify you"  
"I am the king!" Martin yelled back, "I am the king! I can do anything I want! I have the power, you rodent! I am the King of Mobitropolis"  
The robots dragged the writhing, shrieking vulture away until his shouts could no longer be heard. The prince stood, breathing heavy, staring down at the glowing emeralds, all his once again. The red emerald, his favourite, throbbed closest to his foot, and he reached down to pick up the phosphorescent gem and caress its smooth warmth.  
"Long live the King," he muttered to himself.

Sonic was struck with a distinct sense of de'ja'vu when he saw the commercial headquarters of Acornex Oil rise above the surrounding coastal sprawl. The building decor was exactly the same as that of Acornex Chemical in Station Square. He wondered just how far Martin's empire actually spread, how many corners of Mobius were already choked by his corporate tentacles. How much power he already held, throne or no throne.  
The building was vast, and it backed onto the waterfront, where a massive shipping dock was constructed. There was already a ship in port, and Sonic expected to see robots swarming all over it. To his surprise, it was flesh and blood mobians who were unloading barrels of oil from the ship and driving them on forklifts into the building. The automated helicopter didn't stop here; it continued flying, out over the ocean. Sonic squinted at the horizon, suddenly afraid that they were taking him into another country, or worse, preparing to dump him in the middle of the sea without a parachute.  
No, he could see that there was machinery out there, over the water. It was distant, and clouded in haze, but he could see three distinct objects, stretched miles apart. Of course, oil rigs.  
"Where the hell are you taking me?" Sonic asked, although he knew it was only for his own benefit, his SWAT-bot escort didn't value conversation highly. Why would the prince take his prisoners to offshore rigs? And why did that seem so familiar to him? Wasn't there a Chaos Emerald on one of these rigs?  
As the chopper approached and began to slow, he could see more features on the rig. A crude looking contraption, no reason to try and paint it up nicely for the public when it was so far out to sea. Just a maze of crosshatched steel bars and cages sprouting from the water housing unpainted metal buildings, cranes and other contraptions. The centerpiece to this industrial sculpture was a massive pump, one of the biggest machines that Sonic had ever seen. The enormous slanted arm, with one elbow halfway along its length, slowly flexed up and down with a deep motorised grunting. The hedgehog noticed that once again, somewhat oddly, the rig was crawling with living mobians as well as robot workers. The robotic revolution seemed to have not reached quite this far yet, which stirred some feelings of relief and optimism in Sonic's gut. These people worked for Martin and would probably be hostile, but at least they breathed and dreamed. Mobians could be reasoned with, and even hostile company was better than the company of soulless contraptions.  
It was then that the hedgehog noticed something odd below, and he had to look several times to make sure that it wasn't just some kind of illusion. It seemed at first that the water below him, in the shadow of the rig, was darker and more ominous, but the size of the dark patch was too big to account for mere shadow. Then he thought that there was a greater amount of machinery under the water that was making it look darker, but then he saw that the darkness was actually moving on top of the water, moving with the waves. There were a greater concentration of workers around the base of the construction, most of them shirtless, wet and dirty from hard labour.  
Things were not moving smoothly on this rig. There had recently been a fairly serious oil spill. The crude fuel spread out over the ocean in a thin expanse of black film.

Robotnik removed his round spectacles and cleaned them on the collar of his shirt. He tried to squint enough so that he could read the statistics on his monitor unaided, but it was a futile endeavour that resulted only in a pain in his forehead. His sight was going the same way as his hair. He replaced the glasses and raked one hand through his moustache.  
"This is simply unacceptable," he muttered.  
Somebody appeared in the doorway to the musty and mildewed office, and Robotnik turned to prepare for a confrontation.  
"Hey Eggman," the worker remarked, "Transport's on the way"  
Robotnik frowned, but retained his patience. "How many times am I going to have to tell you? My name is Robotnik. Doctor Robotnik"  
"Aw come on mate, it's all in the name of fun," the worker replied, and he smiled, showing a large gap between his front teeth. "We've all got our nicknames here"  
"Oh? And what is yours"  
"Gimp. Gimp's me." The worker smiled even wider and extended a dirty hand for Robotnik to shake, but the ill-humoured minister and politician did not grant him the honour.  
"Tell me then, 'Gimp'," he said, "What exactly is the extent of the damage in sector seven"  
Gimp pulled back his hand, covering up his attempt at a polite handshake by pretending he was only moving to scratch his head. "Looks bad, Doc"  
"I see. Looks bad, does it? And is that a precise figure or just an estimate"  
Gimp gave a kind of half hearted shrug.  
"These figures," Robotnik went on, "Are telling me that we're losing a megaliter of oil every hour. This is an unacceptable amount. I came here to investigate a minor malfunction, this is a full scale disaster. What the devil happened out there"  
"Well, some of the boys, they've been thinking sabotage," Gimp replied, "The first explosion, we figured it was just bad wiring, you know? But there's been two more explosions 'round the rear. Looks like something that's, you know, deliberate. Like someone's been laying charges or something"  
"And who would do that?" Robotnik pressed, "It sure as hellfire can't be Sonic, he's on that transport"  
"Who"  
Robotnik didn't respond. He watched the transport intently as it prepared to land on the rig. The quiet helicopter banked up a little as it prepared to make its final descent.  
"I want the men to stay away from that chopper," he said at last, "Don't approach it, let the SWATs handle matters on their own"  
"But... what?" Gimp appeared confused, "Why"  
"Do it!" Robotnik shouted. The expression on his face showed that he wasn't in the mood to have his authority questioned.  
"Hey, okay, okay," Gimp threw up his arms and stormed out of the office, but not before throwing one final comeback at the science minister.  
"I voted for the other guy, you know"  
Robotnik sighed and turned back to the computer monitor. "I wasn't voted in, I was elected by the senate," he mumbled, "Stupid flaming idiot." He observed the chopper again as it readied its landing gear. "I'll see you in a while, hedgehog. Don't you go anywhere."

The SWAT-bots made no effort to be gentle when they hauled Sonic out of the chopper, and the hedgehog was dismayed to find that he was once again dealing only with robots. He had hoped to meet some mobians who could have been reasoned with. He could see several workers some distance away watching him with interest and confusion, but nobody was willing to approach. So much for that.  
The robots forced him down a curving metal stairwell and into the catacombs of the rig, where long, black pipes and wires stretched along the walls. Sonic could hear the deep grind of machinery even here, like the beating of a mechanical heart within some inorganic behemoth. Further and further they descended, until the metal walls closed in around them and Sonic could faintly hear the sloshing of water all around, and then the heaviness of silence. They were far below sea level by the time the SWAT-bots finally took him to a storage chamber of sorts. They threw the hedgehog into the chamber and closed the thick metal door before he had a chance to make a run for it. He couldn't imagine what good an escape would do him, anyway, not here, miles out to sea on this mechanical island. He was in the enemy's cage, for better or for worse, his walls comprised of more water than he had ever seen.  
"When I get back," he promised himself, "I'm taking swimming lessons"  
Sonic didn't know how long he was trapped in the storage chamber, but he knew it was a number of hours, and quite a few at that. All he had was his own mind for company, and he pondered his situation at present and in the future.  
More than once it crossed his mind that he should detonate the bomb that - through either inattention, carelessness or miracle - still hadn't been taken from him. The prospect of a pointless suicide stayed his hand and he knew he couldn't go through with it, foremost because he wanted to live, and further because he realised that wasting his one and only chance for destruction on some isolated oil rig that was already falling apart made for a terribly pointless and irrelevant death. He was determined to make his already failed mission count for something as long as there was breath in his lungs.  
(you've been in this position before)  
There was something distinctly familiar about the situation Sonic found himself in now. There were memories at the very back of his consciousness, bleeding through into his foremind, and he had to chase them to see what they were, but they ran away from him just as fast as he could persue. It was like trying to remember a dream after he had awoken, the harder he concentrated the more vague the memories became, and it was a phenomenon that he had grown accustomed to. But this time he couldn't merely ignore these images. They needled him, taunted him, threatened to drive him mad like an itch in the centre of his head.  
There was a wall inside Sonic's mind. That is, he had come to imagine it as a wall. Its bricks were sooty and old, and its mortar was chipping away in places. Behind this wall lay his long term memory, the records of his entire past, like an ocean of knowledge. At night, in his dreams, the bricks became as tinted glass, just transparent enough to see through into the world beyond, but not enough for any of it to be lucid.  
Until recently, this wall had been sturdy and impenetrable, a construction so solid that no amount of force he could muster would have been enough to shift it. But as recently as this past week, something powerful had driven itself at this wall, cracking the bricks and dissolving the mortar. The wall was still mighty, but it was creaking and shifting, puddles of memory dribbling through it and offering the first tantilising tastes of his past life.  
Sonic looked at this wall now and realised for the first time that he might actually be able to summon the strength to demolish it. He knew he had been trapped like this before, he knew that he had made a miraculous escape. Although the point of his existence had always eluded him, his will to live must at one time have been immense. That was what he needed now.  
"I'm going to do it," he said aloud, "Right here, right now. I'm going to remember everything"  
Sonic lay on his back with his hands by his sides, spines splaying out all around him like a spiked rug. He moved his hands onto his belly and clasped them together, took a deep breath, closed his eyes. He found what few memories he had reclaimed, and focused on them.  
What did he know? He knew running. He thought about running, imagined fear. Running for his life in some dark place to escape from... what? Running and-  
(tortured)  
Yes, that's right, he was being tortured and enslaved by- Ghosts? Shadows? These formless entities which once commanded him and always dominated his dreams the way they had once dominated his life. Entities that had once appeared so terrible to him that his mind had opted to hide their true identity from memory.  
He had been running. He remembered his legs aching - no, hurting. A stabbing, almost unbearable pain. He had been running too much and it had hurt the muscles in his legs. The ghosts always forced him to run, more than his body could stand. It was ironic - he was running to escape the torture of having to run.  
The shadows all at once began to elucidate. They began to emerge, to coalesce, to take actual shape. Sonic became excited and made the mistake of focusing too hard and too suddenly at this memory, and it retreated from him like a spooked animal. Just formless ghosts again. He took a breath and calmed down, tried again.  
So. He had been running. Running from what? Something that had tortured him, caused him extreme misery. He summoned this image and tried to make out details. It was a corridor he was running along. It was dark. The ghosts behind him were shouting incoherently. He focused on this one scene and tried to embody his past self, put himself in this panicked hedgehog's shoes. When he was sufficiently focused, he turned his head to try and see what he was running from.  
(snakes)  
Crack.  
His eyes opened as a stabbing pain struck him between the eyes. A success! He had chipped away at the wall, made a crack in its surface, and the wall had retaliated, sending a dart of pain through his skull. He was caught by surprise and lost his concentration, but not before he had caught a brief glimpse of what was on the other side of the wall. It was a familiar image from his dreams, an image of two snakes coiled around each other, one red and one blue. He had been deathly afraid of these snakes, had run to escape from them and from the ghosts associated with them. The image was too brief, too fleeting. What did the snakes represent? They were a very important part of his memory. He had to know more, he had to try and see what was behind the screen memory that his mind was trying to deceive him with.  
Sonic tried again. He relaxed as much as he was able, knitted his fingers together on his chest and descended into his mind, breathing steadily and slowly.  
Running. From snakes. And ghosts. And torture. Sonic was young, just a child, and he didn't understand what was happening. All he knew was fear. He ran for his life from his dark master... he didn't know who it was but he knew that he had once known this ghost as his master and that it radiated a very intimidating aura of power. He was afraid to run from it, afraid to defy it, but his little body had been driven to the brink of its tolerance and he would rather have faced death than face the snakes even once more. So he had chosen to face death.  
As he drifted back into his state of deep meditation, Sonic resumed constructing the scene that he had almost seen clearly before. He saw himself running down that dark corridor, heard those impossibly coloured snakes hissing behind him, felt his fear and the omnipresence of the ghosts. Sonic didn't know, but with the steady rhythm of his breath, his comfort and his hovering just above the threshold of sleep, he was actually entering into a state of hypnosis. Rather than his usual attempt to watch his memories like movies, he was trying to interact with them and move around within them, and he was constructing a lucid dream that worked to dissolve the wall between his consciousness and subconsciousness.  
He saw himself running, and suddenly he felt it as though it were happening right there and then. He felt the ground beneath his feet, felt the sharp and burning pain in his leg muscles, heard his harsh breathing, tasted his own sweat.  
Now he could understand what the ghosts were shouting. It was his name. "Sonic! Sonic!" He willed himself to stop running from them.  
(NO)  
The resistance was intense. This hedgehog child was far too scared of his persuers to listen to the frightening advice of his future self. All he knew was fear, he had to keep running, keep running. He was so frightened that he tried to block out the knowledge of what was happening. He tried to forget, to forget it all.  
"No!" Sonic commanded, "No, damn you, stop"  
(i can't or they will catch me)  
"You have to. Your fear is creating a blockage in my mind, do you understand"  
(but it feels better to forget, reality is too frightening)  
"Face them! They can't hurt you, they're just shadows"  
(no! i have to run away from them! i have to forget them forever)  
"Look at them, you little coward! Stop running and just turn around! Just look at them"  
Sonic's pace slowed. His resolve weakened, his fear began to fade. As it happened, the ghosts began to coalesce again, to merge into one another and take form. They screamed his name, and the sound of it threatened to reignite the fear in his gut. He wanted so badly to run. What the hell was he doing? This wasn't the time to be brave and stupid, this was the time to run like he had never run before. To escape the pain and forget it.  
But Sonic wrestled with his instincts and brought them under control. Slowly but surely, he slowed to a stop. He heard the snakes behind him and expected them any minute to coil around his neck and choke the life out of him. The ghosts behind him were no longer ghosts. They had become fully substantial. He felt their presence. All he had to do was turn around and see them.  
(no! if i can't see them they can't hurt me)  
"Look at them"  
(mustn't... mustn't give them form)  
He felt their breath on the back of his neck. Felt their claws raking at his skin.  
"Look at them! Look at them"  
He turned... trembling, he turned and faced them, and saw the thing behind him for what it really was.  
CRACK!  
This time a migraine wracked Sonic's head, and he snapped fully awake with a cry, throwing his hands up to his head, which still throbbed with echoes of pain. Still, he had seen! He had punched a hole in the wall, had looked through it for the first time, looked right through it, beyond all its curtains and veils, and had seen a horrid image from his past. The image still frightened him, for he had seen one of these ghosts and knew what it looked like. He had seen some jagged and hideous, henious thing staring at him with its dull silver skin and bright orange eyes like spotlights in a sharp and oversized skull. It didn't seem like something that should rightfully exist, but it did. He didn't remember what it was, but he had seen it almost as clear as day, just for a fraction of a second.  
How long had he been meditating? Sonic realised all at once that his spines were in disarray and there was a stream of drool from the corner of his mouth to the floor. He had willed himself into a full dream state, but it had felt as real as the room around him did now.  
As he pondered this, there was movement outside his cell. A pang of fear ran down his spine as he realised that the metal door to the store room was being unlocked and opened. His enemies had finally decided it was time to face him.  
"Here comes the idiot brigade," he said aloud, "Here to drag me somewhere else, I suppose"  
"Sonic," the figure in the doorway replied, "I'm hurt! Is that any way to speak to someone who's here to save your big blue butt"  
Sonic cried out in shock and relief, and Kethriel smiled at him with the comic grin he was known for.

Martin Acorn, until recently the Crown Prince and heir to the throne of Mobitropolis, sat reflecting upon his life. This was his favourite place to sit and think. It was a place where he could surround himself with the legacy of his ancestors. This was the soul of Mobitropolis, the heart of the kingdom. The treasure rooms of the palace, with their glittering contents adorning the walls. Martin sat before the crown jewels, gazing at them as lovingly as one might gaze upon their dearest love. With his hands he softly caressed the red Chaos Emerald as it was nestled in his lap.  
And he pondered.  
Soon he would be king. In his own mind he never doubted that it was strength that had brought him here. The strength to never back down in the face of the mightiest adversity. And it was strength that was needed now. For only a mobian of great strength could hold together a crumbling empire.  
His legacy began, he supposed, with the screaming miscreant on the red carpet, an experience which stuck in his mind even now and which he regarded the turning point in his reawakening as a proper monarch. He had been seven years old, his sister only six, and his father still proudly guiding his devoted wife with one arm hooked around hers in a most regal manner, her posture so elegant that her disability was barely even noticable. Although Sally claimed absolutely no memory of the day, Martin carried the image in his mind so clearly that he still remembered the faces on the crowd, the birds in the sky, the smell of his dear mother's perfume.  
It wasn't so rare in those days for the royal family to step outside the palace and step into the world they dedicated their lives to ruling over and protecting. Martin loved those excursions. He loved to listen to the adulation of the crowd, loved to see the beauty of the fairy-tale kingdom that was Mobitropolis. Horse drawn carriages, greystone streets, the greenest of greens in the grass and the bluest of blues in the water and the sky. To his juvenile eyes it had always been a utopia, and it was the glory of the House of Acorn that kept it that way.  
The queen had died later that year. Then everything began to change. The paranoia against technology still ingrained in the minds of the people even so long after the end of the Android Wars ensured that there was no way of detecting the queen's disease until her body was so riddled with it that her muscles melted away as well as her mind. Nothing but a screaming lunatic thrashing on the royal bed in that final week. The same disease that had taken her eyesight by the time she was thirty had gone on to take every last living part of her. She wasn't an iota of the fairytale queen that she had once been while she was lying on that bed, screaming nonsense about demons and bees and dust bunnies. If Martin's illusions weren't already shattered by then, then they certainly were afterward.  
The royal family rarely left the palace grounds together again. In fact, the king himself only ever left the palace three or four times in all the years since that fateful day. The prince treasured his memories of those excursions all the more after it became apparent that the golden years were over. This was one of their final visits to the city, and the people still screamed from either side of the barriers, stretching out over the red carpet with splayed fingers, desperately trying to touch royal skin.  
But amidst the adulation, there was one very different sound. Martin heard it, even though one voice speaking out over thousands of others was almost futile. Martin heard that voice before anybody else.  
"BOOOOOOOO!" somebody was screaming. A whole kingdom full of people shouting praise until their lungs gave out, and one single objection. Even so, it was like an orange atop a bushel of apples, like one flat note in the middle of the sweetest symphony. To Martin it was the loudest scream of all. "BOOOOO! BOOOOOOO"  
He looked about the crowd to find the villain who dared to try and spoil such a fabulous day. His poor blind mother appeared agitated too, now, and she cocked her head even though she would never see the interloper's face. All at once the sound grew louder, and even the crowd dulled their cries. Somebody appeared at the barrier, shaking his fist at the monarchs, booing and cursing. A wolf, his pelt matted down with filth and mange, scraps of material draped around him as though he were the victim of a deranged tailor. He shouted ever louder, appearing to revel in the attention. All at once he began to climb over the barrier, and the king grabbed his children by the hands to keep them from walking towards the miscreant.  
The wolf stumbled onto the red carpet, and Martin felt offended by his presence, this filthy, disgusting creature who dared to set foot on royal ground. The guards began to move in on him immediately. The crowd was fully silent by this time. There wasn't a single sound apart from the booing of this dissenter.  
"All hail the Acorns!" the wolf cried, "Sitting in their warm palace with their billions of dollars and their gold plated thrones! Three hot meals a day for you, Majesty! I bet you've never had to worry about where the next mouthful is going to come from"  
The guards carted the struggling miscreant away, who continued screaming. "Kick off one of your shoes and it'd feed me for the rest of my life, you greedy disgusting sons of dogs"  
Martin remembered questioning his father later that day. He asked why that filthy wolf hated them so much when everyone else loved them. The king had replied that there were, in fact, many people who felt the same way. Martin wondered why anybody would want to spoil such a beautiful day with heretic and stupid ideas like that. He asked his father why they didn't have the wolf thrown in prison for the outburst. The king had said that it was because everybody had a right to their opinion.  
But how could this lunatic's opinion possibly hold the same weight? He didn't see the beauty of what the Acorns had accomplished, what they were still accomplishing. He contributed nothing to Mobitropolis. By the look of him, he was a scavenger, a blight on the city's clean image. How could an uninformed, misguided and obviously crazed opinion have as much right to exist as the learned and experience-driven opinions of intelligent mobians?  
Martin had developed a passion for history from the moment his tuition on the subject began. Even at seven he had some knowledge of the concepts of civil war and treason, and he knew how such conflicts always began. The rulers of nations always faltered in their control, regulations were relaxed, corruption seeped into the system. All it ever took was one misguided individual, one screaming, booing miscreant, to shatter thousands of years of glory and reduce a nation to anarchy. It worried Martin that his father would show such a weakness in ensuring the stability and the security of Mobitropolis. Today's miscreant was tomorrow's terrorist. It was the first time that Martin had ever questioned his father's leadership. It would by no means be the last.  
Although the young prince grew to bitterly dislike his father's concept of constitutional monarchy, his democratic parliament, he found himself gravitating towards the company of one such politician. He was only a senator at this time, just a face in the crowd, but Ivo Robotnik was one of the more outspoken members of the panel, and his politics fascinated Martin. He still recalled his first private conversation with the professor. He was only eight years old when, on the way back from the bathroom at a high-profile palace ball, he came across Robotnik in the halls, and they began the conversation which would eventually lead directly to current events. It was then that Robotnik had pledged allegiance to the young prince, and confided to him that he was planning something revolutionary for Martin's eventual reign, something which would bring Mobitropolis back to its former glory and ensure total security for years to come.  
Of course, that was all back when Martin was still his father's chosen heir. That much had changed soon after the queen's death. As the years rolled on, the king, miserable and lonely, had developed an ever growing attachment to his daughter. He saw her mother in her eyes. Just another bad decision in his father's inept reign, Martin realised. It was to be his last.  
The prince stared at the crown jewels through the glass. Now, the plan which he had developed for the past decade, developed until he thought it was flawless, was beginning for the first time to show signs of weakness under the strain of its own complexity. Things were going wrong. Emerald thieves continued their assaults. His facilities were compromised by sabotage. Now the leader of the emerald project had been taken out of the equation, and he had no way of organising the excavation of the final relic.  
And yet, despite these problems, he was only days away from the revolution. He could count the hours. He looked at the ceremonial crown behind that glass, stared into the Eye of Mobitropolis. The deep blue gem stared back at him.  
He clutched the red Chaos Emerald and thought long and hard. It was imperative that the next few days run smoothly. Everything he had fought for so passionately was about to become his. All he needed was to get his hands on the final emerald. It was the one hurdle left for him to overcome.  
He looked down at the red emerald which glowed in his hands and produced a little warmth against his skin. A little fire burned in its heart. He looked up again at the Eye of Mobitropolis, the sacred gem encrusted in the peak of the ceremonial crown, a deep blue jewel with an eerie luminescence of its own and a strange resemblance to-  
The prince's eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat. The crown's Eye reflected off his pupils which shrank to points to limit its glow.  
"My stars..." he muttered. "Gods above"  
The red Chaos Emerald fell from his hands and rolled across the floor until it came to a stop against the adorned wall of the treasure chamber.  
"I've won," he said, "I can't believe this, all these years... all these years"  
The seventh and final Chaos Emerald was not lost after all. In fact, it had chosen the most invisible place of all to hide itself - in plain sight.

"Nobody will find us here," Kethriel assured Sonic. The two hedgehogs sat together on a metal outcrop just above the waves. Sonic watched the water below, a black film of oil coating the surface for as far as the eye could see. The oil ocean lapped sublimely at the side of the rig, everything beneath those waves obscured by perpetual shadow.  
"And look," Kethriel added, "Real food! Here, get into that." He handed Sonic a couple of sandwiches, which the blue hedgehog began to eat almost before they were fully given to him. He hadn't realised how hungry he was. "Plenty of Mobians on this rig," his companion said, "Which means actual food, not just oil and spare parts. Plenty more where that came from, kid, don't be shy"  
"I sure am glad to see you," Sonic said between mouthfuls, "I mean, really glad. I was starting to think I was all alone in the world. Man, I've got some stories to tell"  
"I bet you do, kiddo, I bet you do." Kethriel smiled and also endulged in a sandwich, though not with Sonic's vigour. "Now's probably not the time and place to discuss such things, though. We're behind enemy lines, so to speak. Best to keep a low profile"  
"I didn't expect to see you again for ages," Sonic said, "Actually, I have to admit I wasn't sure I'd ever see you again. Heck Kethriel, what are you doing here"  
"Well, Sonic, first of all, I think you've done me enough favours to earn the right to call me Keth, like everyone else"  
"Oh..." Sonic stopped eating and looked suddenly quite glum. "No, I haven't done you any favours. I don't know if you know this already, but I lost the emeralds, Keth. I dropped them right into one of the prince's trains. It wasn't my fault, there were these gangsters, and this fox kid... oh hell, of course it was my fault, you trusted me and I failed you. I tried to warn you that I wasn't cut out for this"  
"Whoa, whoa, slow down there, kiddo!" Kethriel exclaimed, laughing a little, "You stop right there. You haven't failed anybody, in fact you've done more than we could ever have hoped or expected. The Freedom Fighters and I are all very, very proud of you"  
"How come?" Sonic asked.  
"Well, you see... you... well... I have kind of an admission to make. There's something I didn't tell you when I explained this plan to you. I told you what you had to know at the time, you understand, but the rest of the Freedom Fighters haven't been sitting idle all this time. Nobody wants to put the burden of the fate of Mobitropolis on your shoulders, Sonic. Each of us has played our own part during the past week. Your role has been to divert attention, and you've done it brilliantly"  
Sonic could hardly believe what he was hearing. "Are you telling me I'm the bait"  
"No!" Kethriel exclaimed, "No, kiddo! Nothing like that at all! Believe me when I say that if not for you, Martin would have won already. You've kept the Chaos Emeralds out of his reach all week. It's not a bait situation, it's an ambush. While the prince's cronies have been chasing a blue blur around the continent, the rest of us have been gathering intelligence for a reasonable counter-attack. It doesn't matter so much that the emeralds are back in his control, because now we know enough about the master plan that we might just be able to tear it down from the inside"  
Sonic wanted to burst out laughing. "Thank heavens! I thought- I thought I'd screwed up for sure. I was on my way to... actually I don't know what I was going to do"  
"You've done enough for now, that's for sure. That is to say, you don't have to do anything alone anymore. Stick with me from now on, we're going to wrap this up together, you and I"  
"Is there really hope for Mobitropolis?" Sonic asked, "Do the Freedom Fighters have an upper hand"  
Kethriel thought for a moment. "Think about it like this," he said, "This whole thing is like a game. Just a great big complicated board game. Prince Martin doesn't know all our moves, and we don't know all of his. But there's one thing that we're hoping gives us the advantage, and that is that we know we're playing a game. Martin doesn't. You see, Martin's plan from the very beginning has been to sweep the rug right out from under everyone. Everyone's supposed to go to bed on Monday night thinking everything is completely normal, and wake up Tuesday morning and find that the empire has been overthrown and half the population have been turned into robots. It's a quiet revolution. Quick, clean and easy. Robotnik's superweapon, the Robotizer, is waiting just out of sight. There's a SWAT-bot every ten meters in the city, and each one is built with a loyalty clause that binds them to the will of their makers. Technically, the city is already Martin's. Once he has all the emeralds together he can flick a switch and take control. By the time anybody knew what was happening, it would already be far too late"  
"But you said the emeralds don't matter!" Sonic said, confused.  
"Ah yes, and that's true," Kethriel replied, "For you see, we know one thing that Martin doesn't. Our friend the prince is just about to find out that the last of the Chaos Emeralds, the one he still thinks is buried, is actually already in Mobitropolis. In fact, it's been right in front of him the whole time. It's one of the crown jewels, and it's locked away very securely in the treasure vault of the palace. Only King Acorn himself has access to it. And this puts a significant wrench in Martin's plan. In order to retrieve the final emerald, he's going to have to strike Mobitropolis early. His forces must siege the palace and take the emerald before he can power up the Robotizer and make his final assault"  
"So... how does that help us?" Sonic asked.  
"It helps because it opens up our window of opportunity," Kethriel said, "Instead of an instant and clean takeover, Martin's war is going to last at least a few hours and is going to be at least a little bit messy. It's going to be sloppy, ill-planned and badly conceived. In other words, it's going to be the weakest point in Martin's strategy since the whole thing was put together. This is where we must strike. We've been planning for this all week. We're going to intercept the prince's war and stop him before he can get to the emerald. Shut down his military and regain control of the city, and without the emeralds he can't strike back with the Robotizer. We can get him in checkmate, Sonic. If we play these few hours right, we can nail him"  
"Great!" Sonic exclaimed, "That's the best news I've heard all week, Keth"  
"I thought it might be," the other hedgehog replied, with a wink.  
"And you know what you could say that would make this news even better"  
"Yeah? And what's that"  
"You could tell me that we're going home as soon as we've finished these sandwiches"  
Kethriel laughed. "I hear ya, kiddo. Unfortunately there's one more stop to make"  
"I was afraid of that"  
"I didn't actually expect to meet you here," Kethriel admitted, "Our contacts in Mobitropolis informed us that you had been captured, and I knew they couldn't take you to the city in case you blew the lid off the prince's plan. What I assumed is that you were on route to Zero Seven"  
"Zero what"  
"Zero Seven. It's Ivo Robotnik's primary robotics facility... just this massive, massive factory where the professor has all his clunkers manufactured. It's also where the prince sends most of his private prisoners. People who have gotten too close to the truth and have to be taken to an out-of-the-way place where they can't cause any trouble if you know what I mean. That's where I'm headed next, and I was going to intercept your entourage while I was there. I just came here first to cause a bit of mischief"  
"Hey, are you responsible for that?" Sonic asked, and he pointed to the jet black water below.  
Kethriel chuckled. "Yeah. I was just trying to make a bit of a diversion. One of the Chaos Emeralds was here and I planned to do a bit of emerald thievery of my own, just to be a further pain in the prince's neck. Unfortunately for me, it turns out that the emerald has already been moved. They're all on route to Zero Seven, I guess that's where they're going to be collected when it's time to take them up to the space station. Meanwhile, my mischief here attracted Robotnik to fly out here and inspect things, and after he landed he requested that you be sent out here as well. It's very strange, Robotnik seems to be even more interested in you than the prince is. I'm not sure why"  
"And is that why we're going to Zero Seven?" Sonic asked, "To make another move on the emeralds"  
"Not this time," Kethriel replied, "That's what they're expecting us to do, so that's where most of the security is going to be focused. Just another thing working in our favour thanks to you, kiddo. All I need to do in Zero Seven is gather a bit of information, anything we can find that might help us to disable the SWAT-bots before Martin can assemble them against Mobitropolis"  
"Great," Sonic said, "Just one more question"  
"Shoot"  
"How do we get off this freakin' rig"  
Kethriel smiled. "Oh, come on. You can't think that I haven't considered that one"  
"Even smart people can overlook the obvious, Keth. That's one thing I've learned"  
"I choose to take that as a compliment."

"He was here," Robotnik said, "Because I saw him"  
The science minister stood before the open door of the empty storage cabin which had briefly encapsulated the fugitive Sonic the Hedgehog. Gimp stood beside him, picking his nose and staring into the unremarkable room with an expression of disinterest. "Well shucks mate, I wouldn't rightly know," he said, "On account'a not being allowed near him and all. Robots make lousy eyewitnesses"  
"I saw him," Robotnik reiterated, "And my robots do not make these kinds of mistakes. There's only one explanation for this. The hedgehog has friends here"  
"Well he ain't my friend, that's for darn tootin', I don't know any hedgehogs"  
"No you idiot, I mean he has allies." Robotnik sighed under his breath and brought one callused hand up to his mouth, pointer finger stroking his moustache. "It's all coming together," he muttered, "The sabotage, the emeralds... he's not working alone, he's joined with the Freedom Fighters"  
"The freedom what-now?" Gimp asked.  
"Never mind. Cease all outgoing shipments as of right now. If the hedgehog and his friend are still here, then they're stranded. The Flying Battery is en route, and when it arrives I'm taking it to Zero Seven. From the time I leave, this is a quarantined rig"  
"Hey, that ain't fair!" Gimp protested, "How long is that gonna hold? This team's rotation is nearly up! We're going home in two days"  
"It will hold until I say otherwise," Robotnik replied. And with that, he turned and walked away, though he continued talking to himself as he walked. "I know this won't stop you, Sonic," he said, "But I just want to see for sure. Keep experimenting. It is, after all, a passion of mine."

"Why are there so many people here?" Sonic asked as they watched a number of workers from the shadows, "I mean, everywhere else uses robots, now"  
"Yeah, that's progress," Kethriel replied, "This is one of the last old-fashioned companies left with the Acornex brand, the robot revolution just hasn't fully caught up with it yet. It doesn't matter, in a few days the question will be irrelevant either way. Robotics will probably be outlawed again after this coup is thrown out. Come on, we better get going before the good doctor sees that you're missing and raises the roof"  
Kethriel led Sonic away from the workers and towards a small dock at the side of the rig. The water lapped just below his feet, and it dawned on Sonic that he didn't want to touch the oily, slimy-looking water if he could help it.  
"Don't you tell me that we're swimming to shore," he said, "Because in that case I'm taking my chances with Robotnik"  
"You're hilarious, Sonic. Actually, I had a much more stylish transport planned. We'll get off this tin can the same way I got on in the first place. If you will just direct your attention to the shadows under that girder"  
Sonic squinted into the darkness and saw that there was some kind of small boat tied to the dock and hidden in the shadows. Kethriel pulled on the rope that bound it, and Sonic laughed when he realised that it was a jet powered water-ski.  
"You're kidding me," he said, "Where in the heck did you get that from"  
"What do you mean? I'm best friends with a princess, I can have anything I want. Now, are you climbling aboard or will you be dining with the professor"  
Kethriel climbed onto the machine and started the engine. It spluttered and roared into life, its pilot waggling his eyebrows and sporting a wry grin. Sonic clumsily boarded behind, and instantly realised why hedgehogs rarely sat behind each other.  
"Ouch!" the younger hedgehog exclaimed, "You're slicing me to pieces, here! Next time, I get to drive"  
"Trust you with my brand new toy? Not bloody likely, kiddo"  
He revved the engine twice and then took off. The jet-ski skipped across the waves with a loud buzzing-churning noise that rattled Sonic's skull, and the spray from the black water of the oil ocean splattered against his body, although he realised that Kethriel would be getting most of it.  
It was then that he noticed the silk bag around his neck, pinned between his chest and the other hedgehog's spines. One of the greatest mysteries of this adventure, and he hadn't thought to bring it up.  
"Hey Keth!" he shouted over the engine and the splashing water, "What's inside the silk bag"  
"I'm glad you kept it with you!" Kethriel shouted back, "We might still need it before the week is out"  
"But what is it? Is it a bomb"  
Kethriel didn't reply for a moment. Then he said, "You understand why I haven't told you everything, don't you? That sometimes you actually do more good if you don't know the full story"  
"Yeah, I think I understand"  
"Well, let's just let this be one of those things. Suffice to say that, if you're ever really in a jam, there's something in there that might just give you the strength and incentive you need to keep fighting"  
"You're lucky I have self control," Sonic replied, "Or else I- hey! Holy crap! Keth, what's that"  
A huge, dark shadow was passing over the water, and Sonic was pointing to the sky, his outstretched arm throwing the jet-ski a little off balance. Kethriel asked him to put his arm down and tried to crane his neck up to see what was in the sky above them.  
The object Sonic had seen was larger than anything he had ever seen airborne. An absolutely massive craft, the size of an aircraft carrier or larger, was soaring over their heads, travelling in the direction from whence they had come. Such a thing seemed to defy the laws of physics with its sheer size, flying through the air as though it were weightless.  
"Flying Battery," Kethriel said.  
"What"  
"That's the Flying Battery battleship. The prince bought it recently to beef up his military. You can relax, it won't attack us, probably hasn't even seen us"  
"This is going to be a hard fight, isn't it"  
"Hard and bloody. I can't deny that. But we'll win"  
Sonic was silent. He was going to ask Kethriel how he could be so sure, but Sonic already knew what the answer would be.  
They would win because they had to.


	11. Robot Metropolis

PROJECT MOBITROPOLIS  
S Peter Davis 

All characters (C) SEGA, Archie and SP Davis 2004.  
Used without permission

* * *

ROBOT METROPOLIS

Fate tread quietly when it came to creep up upon Mobitropolis. The sun set on Saturday night and it seemed that all was more or less right with the world. Sunday, however, brought with it an unease that spread throughout the city like wildfire. The calm before the storm had ended. The skies were growing dark and thunder could be seen on the horizon. For the first time, people began to fear that something very bad was about to happen to them. And it was.  
The sun was rising. One after another, curtains and windows began to open. The smell of coffee and toast drifted along the streets. A vagrant named Rat stretched and crawled out from under the old newspaper he used as a blanket. House-cats scratched on their owners' doors. SWAT-bots patrolled the streets as they had all night with no need for rest. Everything was as it should be. And yet... there was that sound. It came out of the east. Waking mobians began to peek out of their windows to see what that sound was. It was the sound of some great mass of people moving in unison, but there was also... something else.  
They carried steel pipes. They carried planks of wood. They carried baseball bats, lengths of girder, mallets and kitchen implements. As they walked, they also carried grim expressions. There were no smiles in this crowd. There was a job that had to be done, and the time had come to do it. There would be no remorse.  
"What do you reckon is going on?" Rat asked as the crowd rounded the corner and began to march down his street.  
Bosley lit up a cigarette and watched the people move past. None of them took any notice of him. "Seems there's an old fashioned people's uprising happening," he replied.  
"Uprising against what?" Rat asked.  
Bosley shrugged. "The New Way," he said, "That's my guess. I knew it couldn't last for long"  
They beat their instruments against their open palms as they walked. SWAT-bots analysed their activity in confusion, trying to decide in their simple robotic minds whether the crowd posed a threat to anybody. The people rounded corner after corner until they reached the main street of Mobitropolis, and then moved directly toward the palace.  
Now the SWAT-bots perceived a possible threat and began to congregate nearby. Robots emerged from backstreets and alleyways as their hive network gave a new command seperate to their usual patrol route. They gathered around the crowd of people like moths gather around a light, and moved with them. But they were more or less ignored as the crowd marched toward the palace with grim and unerring purpose.  
They marched past the schoolyard, and dozens of children interrupted their soccer game to observe the strange event taking place. Three teachers on their coffee break left the tea room with their beverages in hand and hurried to the playground to supervise the curious youngsters. The children chattered questions to the parade, but nobody offered any answers.  
The parade had reached Central Park before the news media were able to mobilise and rush toward the scene. By the time they reached the action it would be too late for them to be able to report the news live, but they were to remain on the scene indefinitely as the story continued to heat up. The next time the people of Mobitropolis unglued themselves from the frantic news reports on their televisions, it would be to flee their homes in panic and terror. For this would be the first of the succession of events which would inevitably raze this mighty empire to the ground.  
Commander Packbell, the minister for defense and leader of the SWAT-bot unit, was aware of the movement via his computer, to which the SWAT-bots relayed constant reports of their activities and observations. He watched the reports with a growing interest as he continued a conversation on the telephone.  
"Yes sir," he said, "Everything is entirely in order. I've just seen the package off on an envoy to the launch base at Zero Seven. Yes sir. All necessary precautions have been considered. I can't guarantee the safety of this line at this time, although I suspect that we're safe, I shouldn't divulge any specifics. No sir, I cannot be assured of that"  
He frowned and suddenly parted from the computer terminal to look out the window. He could clearly see a congregation of people outside the outer gates of the palace, escorted by dozens of SWAT-bots. Their intentions were not entirely clear.  
"Yes sir. You mentioned that earlier, I took the liberty of sending an appropriate subject with the envoy this morning. I sent you the echidna... Prince Martin hired him recently to oversee the emerald excavations, he's a hermit and nobody knows him, so he could easily disappear without bringing any undue attention to us before the transition. I decided it was the most resourceful option. Yes sir. Yes Doctor. Well, I thank you, but logic is after all my strongest virtue"  
Outside, the crowd ceased its movements and stared solemnly toward the palace. The media scurried to assemble some kind of presence nearby, but the trucks hadn't even pulled up before the strike began.  
A moment of silence, the kind of dead silence that accompanies any disaster as the universe balanced the weight of its own entropy. The street was lined with faces, and more appeared in windows along every wall, everyone anticipating an event that they were unsure was even going to happen.  
But then it did. The mobian at the head of the congregation suddenly let out a furious scream that, in the accompanying silence, could be heard for almost a kilometer in all directions. For a second it was the only sound, but the street was soon choked with enough noise to drown it out completely. With fierce and pitiless savagery, the crowd turned on the SWAT-bots that had gathered to supervise the unpredictable gathering. Before the robots could act in their own defense, snarling mobians pounded and crushed their hulls with their makeshift weapons of combat. Onlookers fled the scene, terrified by the unprecedented display of brutality.  
One aspect that limited the SWAT-bots as a police force was the fact that their actions were controlled by programming, and any decision they made was based on established rules of engagement. The robots were coldly rational and unquestionably efficient when it came to handling breeches of internal security. That aside, there were very few protocols in place that dealt with the SWATs' own self defense. Most any situation dealing with actions against people or property had been considered, but nobody had ever seriously entertained the possibility of a strike directly against the robots themselves, as though somebody might be offended by their presence alone. In that respect, the robots were caught without any idea of what to do, with no grounds present by which to justify a counter-response. Rules of benevolent constraint dictated that there were very few situations in which a SWAT-bot was permitted to use force, so the victimised robots were limited to the most basic methods of restraint, all of which were almost completely ineffective against a mob this size.  
The delay in an adequate response led to twelve SWAT-bots being completely destroyed before the riot could be contained. The robots eventually made a complex decision that the decimation of the SWAT force would directly constitute a threat against the security of the throne, and this sanctioned a forceful retaliation, but by this time the riot was already dissipating. Having made their point, the crowd dropped their weapons and scattered in all directions. A greater force of SWATs poured forth from every angle of the city and attempted to subdue or at least identify the protesters, but most of them escaped free and clear. Five arrests were made, but the scrapped and sparking remains of twelve SWAT-bots already imparted a powerful message, given that only three of the robots had ever lost a battle since the model was implemented. Several of the instruments left behind by the mob were inscribed with messages printed in large red capitals: WORKERS UNION OF MOBITROPOLIS DEMANDS NO MORE ROBOTS!  
"I'm afraid I'll have to call you back," Packbell said, "There is a disturbance. No... nothing unmanagable. Suffice to say that things are definitely heating up in the city, Doctor."

Sonic and Kethriel stared up at the bleak vision before them. Nothing could have prepared Sonic for this: After traversing several square miles of undeveloped land, Kethriel had taken him over one final hill, and laid out before him was the most massive single industrial complex that Sonic had ever seen, the expanse of Zero Seven. It was like a city of machines, like a robot metropolis built for these unnatural beings that clanked and shambled in a way so like life, and yet, so unlike life. The complex was a tight multitude of yellow-brick and dark blue metal buildings backing onto the ocean. Woven between the structures were hundreds of pipes so large that they looked as though they could easily be walked upon, pumping water or oil or who-knows-what-else throughout the metropolis. From this height they could see most of the complex and the coastline beyond. Kethriel pointed out a massive almost circular construction built over the water, waves lapping up against it. The thing seemed incomplete, almost like some aquatic landing pad. Sonic asked him what it was.  
"A docking platform," Kethriel replied, "For something very, very large. Freaked out yet"  
Sonic mentally compared the size of the platform with the size of the Flying Battery, which was already the largest flying machine he had ever seen. Even so, he calculated that the machine made for that platform was maybe ten, even twenty times larger. A little shiver traced along his spine.  
Zero Seven was a labyrinth about which neither of the hedgehogs knew terribly much, and Kethriel had voiced numerous times his wish that the computer adept Slick could have accompanied them on this information retrieval mission.  
"He taught me a thing or two about Robotnik's mainframe setup," he said, "You could say I got the Hacking 101 crash course over the past week. There's still nothing I can do that he can't do a thousand times faster, but hopefully we can have a fairly uneventful run. The key here is stealth, we need to get in, look around, get what we need and get out"  
"What exactly is it that we're looking for?" Sonic asked.  
"Access codes for the SWAT-bots, ideally," Kethriel replied, "But they're probably too encrypted. What the Freedom Fighters really need is something that'll make the SWATs easier to override. Sometime in the next few days, Mobitropolis is going to become a police state. Nobody will be able to sneeze without the prince's permission. Taking down the SWAT network will be our first priority during that time"  
"Why can't you just hack the Iron Ward"  
"The SWATs take their orders from Mobitropolis, but the orders are made here," Kethriel said, "The Ward is just where the SWAT-bots are born. Zero Seven is where they are conceived. It's hard to formulate a complex and multi-faceted insurrection from within the government you're trying to overthrow. There's always somebody looking over your shoulder. This is where most of the cloak and dagger really takes place, because it's so out of the way. The problem with spying in Zero Seven is that it's much more difficult to be inconspicuous when absolutely everyone else is a robot"  
The hedgehogs made their way down to the machine city with due caution, avoiding the many patrols of SWAT-bots that kept a silent vigil around the perimeter. Kethriel carried in his head a working knowledge of the holes and imperfections in the defense system, so they slipped into the complex with lethe confidence, Sonic following his leader's movements and treading in his footsteps until they reached the outer wall of an unmarked building, the only feature a narrow window a short distance above our heads.  
"It's as good an entrance as any," Kethriel declared.  
"I'm not sure I can fit through that, Keth"  
"Oh sure you can, sure. You're young and agile. Here, I'll give you a leg up."

"I'd like to thank you all for assembling at such short notice," Commander Packbell announced before the parliament of Mobitropolis. This was not a fully inclusive meeting, only about forty percent of the government were present. The most important officials excluding King Acorn himself had been called to assemble. Acorn had been informed of the trouble, but in light of more pressing duties, empowered the defense minister with the authority to handle things on his own. A few worried that it was an arrangement disturbingly reminiscent of martial law, but the king's word was still final in such matters.  
"As you know," Packbell said, "Just under an hour ago, a riot broke out in the city square that caused severe damage to our active robot military. We have concluded that sixteen SWAT-bots were damaged overall, twelve of which were completely decommissioned"  
"How did this happen?" somebody shouted, "These things are supposed to be unstoppable"  
"Under the right circumstances, they are," the commander replied, "The SWATs are designed to be highly effective against a forseen threat. They assemble quickly to counter a hostile situation and neutralise it in the best possible manner within the constraints of their programming. This was an unprompted and unpredictable act of terrorism, and through what was admittedly a failure in intelligence we were unprepared to formulate a proper defense procedure. This kind of attack is almost unheard of in Mobitropolis, but we must now consider the possibility that we will see more like it"  
"Commander!" exclaimed another concerned voice, and somebody stood up among the crowd of officials. It was a slim orange sphinx named Redford Whisker, the shadow defense minister and frequent spokesman for the opposition. "Are we to understand that this is yet another gaping hole in the supposedly infallible robotized police system?" he asked, "That once again these kindergarten toys that you've got patrolling the city, through their sheer and simple inability to formulate a single intelligent thought, have failed to do the job that they were built to do"  
A few of the politicians articulated agreeance with Whisker's thoughts.  
"Sir, you lack understanding about how the robots work," Packbell replied, "The SWAT engine operates under the command of a simple system of probability in coherence with certain unbreakable laws and regulations. They do not think in the way that you or I think, it's true. They do not think in the way that makes mobians unreliable. Their uncorruptability means that they will never break the law themselves under any circumstance, but you can't say the same about a mobian. A SWAT-bot is only as reliable as the law permits it to be"  
"Don't pass the buck, Commander," Whisker said.  
"I am merely reporting the facts, sir. The facts are that the SWATs were prevented from intercepting the terrorists earlier because the law clearly prohibits interference in civilian demonstrations. Over the past week we have seen a number of protests take place, led by the very group who staged this morning's attack. The inevitable consequence of these protests is that, through legislatory impotence, they were allowed to boil over into hostility"  
"And what would you suggest? That we outlaw organised demonstration? We pull the plug on free speech so that your tin soldiers can do their job properly"  
Packbell sighed. "The point I am trying to make is that we are entering a new age. I'm sure you've all heard the rumours lately. You've all heard tales about covert groups working behind the scenes in Mobitropolis, working towards an ultimate coup against the throne. These are improbable tales but in light of recent events we have to take them seriously. Until we get to the root of the problem and disband these groups, we have to take a harder line against organised dissention, even if it appears benign"  
"Commander, the fuel of these protests is about the presence of the robots themselves! Go back to a mobian police force and you can fix both these problems at once"  
"That's interesting," Packbell replied, "Do you always back down to the commands of terrorists? What happens when they start having further ideas about how this city should be run? Will you lie down and let a minority rule Mobitropolis just because they have a mob militia armed with pipes and two-by-fours? Or will you answer to the majority who have voted for a more efficient and more reliable police force to keep them safe? My friends, we have some hard decisions ahead of us all, but I trust the intelligence of everyone in this room, as long as we keep our wits. In light of tonight's planned celebrations I wish to propose an immediate heightening of palace security, effective as soon as it can be arranged. Among my recommendations are to put the SWATs on a higher level of alert, raising our defense at any sign of protest. I want to ask for the production of at least two hundred new units to garrison the palace. I'd also like to ask that the crown jewels be moved to a more secure location as soon as possible"  
"Why the crown jewels?" someone asked.  
"Simply as a precaution. The jewels are a traditional target for rebel groups simply because they symbolise the hub of power in Mobitropolis. Call it an educated concern. I want you all to be aware that co-operation is crucial at this time, we need to work together on this. A very real threat has just made itself known, and it is our duty to the people that we quell it before it causes further destruction."

Sonic grunted and complained under his breath as he squeezed himself through into the dark abyss beyond the narrow window. Finally with a wail louder than he had intended, he slipped through to the other side and fell to the hard concrete floor. Kethriel asked him from the other side whether he was all right, and he had to let his eyes adjust to the darkness before he could respond. When finally he could see, he had to groan.  
"You put me in jail, Keth"  
He had slipped into a bare and torturous prison cell with concrete walls and metal bars. Having just escaped imprisonment, it was the last place he wanted to be.  
"Dang," Keth said through the window, "Is it clear"  
"Yeah, I can't see any guards- oh wait, it's okay, the door is open"  
"Keep an eye out, I'm coming through"  
Sonic crept around until he was confident that nobody (and nothing) was waiting around to ensnare them. When he heard Kethriel drop into the cell, he gave the nod and the both of them wandered into the hallway beyond, where dozens upon dozens of similar cells were lined against each other, shrouded in darkness aside from a small crack of light filtering from each narrow rectangular window.  
"What is this, a dungeon?" Sonic asked.  
"Yeah, it sure is. It's like I told you before, the prince needs a place to store the people he considers a threat to his cause. You'd surely be on the other side of one of these if you'd been caught earlier"  
Sonic shuddered at the thought of being in that cell for any longer than he had been.  
"Hey," Kethriel said, "Keep watch here for a moment, will you? I'm going to run ahead and check something"  
The blue hedgehog stood and waited patiently while his partner jogged ahead. He leaned against the bars of the nearest cell and looked across into the one opposite him. The thin sliver of light upon the wall wrought its ghost upon the floor below, and Sonic wondered where the son of the Good King of Mobitropolis learned to be so cruel. It was then that he heard something and tensed up. Listening hard, he realised that the sound was not a SWAT-bot, but a voice speaking softly. It was coming from the cell behind him.  
"...somebody...there"  
Sonic spun around and tried to squint into the darkness to see who was trapped in this terrible prison, but the lump beyond was too ambiguous to make out properly.  
"We're here to help!" Sonic exclaimed, "Who are you"  
The prisoner was silent for a moment, and then let out a chuckle that might have really been a sob. "Here there be monsters," it replied.  
The voice was heavily accented, and Sonic tried to remember where he had heard it before. It was the voice of a female, soft and delicate and infected with sorrow.  
"I want to help you," Sonic repeated, "My name is Sonic"  
"Sonic..." the figure said, ponderously, "Sonic, yes, I know... You've come all this way"  
"I know you, don't I? Who are you"  
"You knew me, who I was. You wouldn't recognise me now. There's not much left of me"  
"Tell me! Who are you?" The lament in that voice almost made him feel like bursting into tears himself.  
Slowly, the figure picked itself up to a standing position. Somehow, the shape before him was too big for its voice, too bulky. The prisoners limbs were all the wrong shape, one arm much thicker than the other. When she came towards him, she walked with a heavy limp, and for some reason her feet made a heavy thumping sound as she moved, like a stone golem trying to move for the first time. Ka...thump. Ka...thump. Ka...thump. Sonic was suddenly afraid, and moved backward as the figure advanced. Finally the light from her small window caught her and moved like a torch-light across her body. Sonic saw fur and fingers, then bulky and tarnished metal in the same vision. Two things that shouldn't appear in the same place. A glimpse of flesh, a flash of steel, muscles and hardware. The light finally settled on her face, which had been left mercifully unmangled and recognisable.  
"Bunnie, oh God"  
Bunnie smiled, but in a pitifully sad way. "Sort of," she replied, "Partly. I am what he made me"  
"Bunnie," Sonic retained his courage before her friendly and feminine visage. "I slipped in through the window, can you slip out the same way"  
"It's shut," she replied, "Bulletproof glass, I think, not that they let you have guns in here. Besides, I think my days of slipping through windows are over"  
"What's happening?" Kethriel returned and sidled up beside Sonic. The other hedgehog stammered and couldn't reply.  
"Hi there, sugar-hog," Bunnie said.  
Kethriel squinted into the cell, unbelieving. "Bunnie! Is that you? Is that really you"  
"Blue and I have just established that the answer to that isn't easy"  
Kethriel saw the bulging shapes in the darkness where her body should have been, and his excited expression fell like a ton of rocks. "Oh Bunnie... oh no... what... have they done to you"  
"Tested his machine on me, the notorious Robotizer," she replied, then after a moment of consideration, "It works, by the way"  
"Are you... are you still... you?" Sonic asked.  
"I don't know. What makes me me? He didn't touch my brain. The process... it erases your memories, your thoughts, everything. He wanted what I knew to be intact, so he left my brain. But... it's full of new thoughts now. It's like there are two of me"  
"You're still Bunnie to me," Kethriel replied, "You're still Bunnie Rabbit"  
"I'm a Rab-BOT now," Bunnie corrected.  
"We can't get her out," Sonic said.  
"Oh yes we can," Kethriel replied, "I know the access code. I thought I was going to have to bust you out of here, remember? I came prepared"  
The hedgehog began typing a code into the security keypad affixed to the lock. Sonic couldn't help wondering whether they could trust the half-robotic Freedom Fighter, the Rabbot, and felt instantly ashamed of himself for thinking such things.  
"Could you release my friend as well?" Bunnie asked.  
"What friend"  
"In the next cell"  
While Kethriel worked at her cell, Sonic wandered over to inspect the next. There was another lump inside this one, unmoving.  
"Hey," he said. There was no response. A little louder, he tried again. "Hey"  
The second prisoner bolted upright. "Huuh? What"  
Sonic recognised this shape almost right away, and groaned deeply. "Oh great, it had to be you"  
Still half asleep, Rhes el Carrion picked himself up and stumbled toward the bars of his dark cage. "Who's there? Hedgehog"  
"Forget it, this one's staying where he is," Sonic insisted.  
Bunnie's cell swung open and she and Kethriel approached the second prison.  
"Well, this is pretty ironic, isn't it now," Carrion said, "That I should owe you of all people for my rescue"  
"Keth, he's working for Martin," Sonic said.  
"Oh come on!" Carrion protested, "If I was still on his payroll, do you think I would be where I am? Use your brain"  
"Careful," Kethriel warned, "Don't be rude to my friend, guy, I have your only key"  
"I don't like this," Sonic said.  
"Have a heart," Carrion said, "Let me out of this rat-infested sardine can and you'll never have to see me again. Swear it on my dear mother's life"  
"He's fine," Bunnie said, "He likes the prince even less than we do, if that's possible"  
"He wasted five years of my life," Carrion said, "Five years with no pay, that's time I'm not getting back, you better believe I'm mad"  
"Well you know, I hate to say I told you so," Sonic said.  
"Don't gloat, it's unbecoming of you"  
"Set him free, he's no harm," Bunnie said, "I promise"  
"Well, he doesn't look to be dangerous," Kethriel replied, typing in the code.  
"You haven't had him point a gun at your face," Sonic replied, sour.  
When Carrion was released, he dusted off his suit and tried his best to look pompous despite his situation. "Thank you." The words came out in a half-cough, as though they were difficult to articulate. "Now, how do I get out of this place"  
"You follow us," Kethriel replied, "We helped you, now you help us"  
"Oh I see," Carrion replied, "You're one of those types. Well, I guess if you're planning on sticking it to Princey, I can suffer a little more unpaid work in the name of poetic justice. Bring it on."

A dark figure stood before a computer terminal, illuminated only by the light of the screen and by an orange luminescence from somewhere behind him. The source was a jagged and sharp-looking machine with spotlights for eyes. It watched in dumb animal-interest as its master observed the monitor. An image on the screen showed footage from a streaming camera, four figures wandering along the halls of the prison complex.  
"This is fascinating, Silver," the figure said, speaking in the same manner as one might speak to a pet or an inanimate object, more for his own benefit than for a desire to truly communicate. "Absolutely fascinating to witness. Despite all of his tribulations. It's as though some kind of instinct has led him here, isn't it? Now I'm more anxious to speak with him than ever"  
He switched something on the terminal and changed the image. Now he was watching an echidna standing alone on a balcony.  
"The hedgehog has proven resourceful," he said to the robot at his side, "Diligent. With no shortage of friends. In light of this, I might have to change my plans for our dear Knuckles the Echidna. It appears he's more use to us alive for the time being."

Knuckles the Echidna looked upon the iron and steel metropolis of Zero Seven brewing feelings not unlike contempt for the greasy sprawling machinations of this unnatural world. The smog choked him and with all of his being he wished he wasn't here, he wished for the crystalline skies and untarnished waters of the Floating Island, his paradise. He vowed that very soon he would return home, that he was close to done with these foreigners, their strange dark machines and clouded intentions.  
As he pondered, however, a figure approached at his side, and the two of them stood together at the balcony of this dark industrial tower, peering at the unrelenting business below them.  
"Hello, Knuckles, I'm pleased to meet you," the figure said, "You probably know already, but my name is Robotnik, I'm Minister of Science in Mobitropolis. Doctor Robotnik"  
"Yes, I know," Knuckles replied. "I wish you hadn't brought me here. This place sickens me, it's like an offense to all of my senses at once. I'm a child of nature, Doctor"  
"I shouldn't imagine why," Robotnik replied, "We're all a part of nature, Knuckles. The things we build are natural to us, they do everything that nature does. These machines, they consume resources, they reproduce and in time they dissolve into scrap. Each one has a purpose within our constructed biosphere, or our mechanisphere. I see nature in everything down there"  
"That might be," the echidna replied, "But I see differently. The difference is as distinct to me as black is from white. These things have no souls"  
"Souls are overrated," Robotnik said, under his breath. Then, more loudly, "In any event I'm sorry to have shuttled you so far out of your way. I had a very important job for you, but... it's no longer necessary"  
"Oh, that's great"  
"While you're here, though, I wanted the opportunity to discuss something with you. Actually, I shouldn't be telling you any of this, but there are things that I believe you deserve to hear. Things regarding your role in all of this"  
"All I can say is it's about time," Knuckles snapped, "I've about had it with the secrecy around here. I was supposed to get a call from Carrion yesterday but I never did... next thing I know, I'm being held prisoner in my own hotel room for ten hours before these rustbucket abominations bust in and throw me on a plane. If I'm supposed to trust you people, you're going the wrong way about earning it"  
"I apologise about all of that," Robotnik said, "The fact is that you have been caught up - and rather rudely, I might add - in some very secret events. I want to tell you that most of what you have been informed about your role in this operation has been a lie"  
"Well now I'm ticked off. I don't appreciate being lied to, Doctor. In fact, it's a health hazard"  
"I know. But let me explain. The fact is that there is a political upheaval about to take place in Mobitropolis. A revolution, actually. There has been a rather large rebellion brewing for some time, and it is about to spill into all-out war. The Chaos Emeralds are essential to the city's defense in the coming days, without them the results would be catastrophic. Thus the urgency in their retrieval. Thus the necessity of your participation"  
"I don't care about your politics," Knuckles spat, "I don't care an inch. Have all the revolutions you want, wipe yourselves off the planet for all I care. My business isn't with the affairs of the mainland, it's with the affairs of my island. The Chaos Emeralds are an affair of my island"  
"Of course," Robotnik explained, "But our business is with more than Mobitropolis. Believe it or not, your island and the safety of all these lands around us are as much a concern as our own interests, Knuckles. You see, the rebels know of our quest for the emeralds, and they know of the power that the emeralds contain. They know more than we suspected, in fact, and over the last week they have been sending their own militants to steal them from us. You've probably heard this. Our fear is what would happen if they actually succeeded. They call themselves Freedom Fighters, ironically. The 'freedom' they presume to fight for is anarchic. If they had all of the emeralds in their hands, the results would be unthinkable. They would spread this war to every point on the globe, I wouldn't even think that your own home would be safe for long. Recently our priority has changed from obtaining the emeralds to protecting them. My colleagues are skeptical, but I retain the opinion that the best way to achieve this goal is with your help and guidance"  
"Well now we're getting somewhere. You're damn right that's the best way. I've been protecting power emeralds since I was a child. In fact, this is the reason the emeralds were buried in the first place, and why you should have given them to me the second you found them"  
"People often misjudge," Robotnik replied, "Society has been built on layers of mistakes. We shouldn't dwell on them. Our biggest problem right now is keeping one step ahead of the enemy's hero, the Freedom Fighters' most powerful militant"  
"The blue blur," Knuckles muttered.  
"His name," Robotnik said, "Is Sonic. He's very fast and very cunning. He's infiltrated our defenses a number of times and managed to take a number of the emeralds. We got them all back again, to our credit, but he's relentless. And he's here right now"  
"Here"  
"Yes, he's in this facility somewhere as we speak. He's come to intercept the emeralds before we can get them to safety. I wanted you to be here because I'm afraid he may succeed"  
"Where are you taking them?" Knuckles demanded.  
Robotnik smiled. "Where even the fastest hedgehog alive can't get them. The ARK space colony"  
"And you want me here"  
"Yes. I've heard stories about you, Knuckles. I've heard that you shred metal-plated punching bags without breaking a sweat. I've heard that you stalk people just for fun, and that being stalked by you is like being followed by a ghost. You're more than an emerald detector. In fact, I rather suspect that you might be the only one who can really face up against this Sonic and stop him before he has a chance to become unstoppable"  
"I'm not a muscle for hire," Knuckles assured him.  
"No," Robotnik replied, "No, you're a lone ranger. But you'll fight for your own interests. They just happen to be interests that we share. The protection of the Chaos Emeralds. He wants them all, Knuckles, and he won't let anything stand in his way. I can't force you to trust me, but I can grant you free rein of this facility until such a time as I can guarantee the safety of the emeralds. I have a feeling you're a good fellow to have around the house." He turned to leave.  
"And if I don't trust you?" Knuckles asked.  
"Cats and people don't trust each other, either," Robotnik called back, "But they both chase the same rats."

"I am so sorry, Bunnie," Kethriel said, glumly, "If I'd known what you were going to have to go through, I'd never have sent you on that mission. If I'd had even the faintest clue that I was sending you into a trap"  
"I knew what I was getting into," Bunnie replied, "I wouldn't be a Freedom Fighter if I didn't"  
"That's true. I'm just so very relieved that you're alive"  
"Sometimes I'm not sure I share that sentiment, sugar-hog." She wiggled the fingers of her left hand, some of the very few flesh parts she had been allowed to retain.  
"We've known each other a long time," Kethriel said, "If you want a way out of this... to get out of this, all of it... I'll understand. Just say the word, there isn't a single mobian in Knothole or Mobitropolis who would hold it against you. You've been through enough, this whole thing has taken enough from you"  
Bunnie looked right at him, her expression difficult to read. She appeared suddenly furious, but not necessarily at Kethriel.  
"He did me slowly," she said, "I lost one limb at a time. It hurts, Keth. Like nothing you can imagine. He changed my left foot first, because he said this was an important trial for him and rabbits' feet are lucky. He put it under this... this light, and it looked like it was building a boot around it, but it felt like dipping my foot in acid, like it was being eaten away, dissolved slowly. I suppose that's pretty much what really was happening. He kept asking me the same questions, but I never told him anything, so he changed me, piece by piece. He took my other foot, then each leg, then my waist, my chest, my arm... I guess he was gonna take the other arm soon enough but he got distracted by something or other so he just forgot me. I can't imagine Hell being a much worse fate than robotization, Keth. That's exactly why I'm going to keep fighting. In fact, I'm going to fight harder. I don't want this to happen to a single other person. Not my worst enemy"  
"You're a brave soul, Bun," Kethriel replied, a smile on his face, "We're lucky to have you"  
"Does it... still hurt?" Sonic stammered, "Can you feel anything"  
Bunnie flexed the mechanical atrocities that now passed for the fingers of her right hand, and observed them curiously. "I feel... something," she replied, "They register some kind of pain, I suppose. It's just not organic, it's... sterile. My mind has all this new information now, I don't think anyone's supposed to be half-robotized. It's all or nothing. I'm having trouble coping with it. Like I said, it's like I'm two people now. Rabbit and Rabbot." She shook her head sadly. "He's mad, Keth. Robotnik, I mean. He's an absolute psychopath, I don't think anyone has any idea, not really. He didn't care about me at all, I could see. I was like a toy to him, just another interesting experiment to play with. Like a kid pulling the wings off a fly. I was near death and it was exciting him so much. Too much. I think I was more afraid of him than what he was doing to me"  
"You see what you were helping them do?" Sonic asked Carrion.  
The vulture scowled at him. "Oh get off your high horse, hedgehog. Not everything is about good and evil. I don't make any apologies for taking a job when it was offered to me. If you have a problem with the prince, do what I'm doing and take it out on the prince. You live in a garbage bin, right? You can't tell me you wouldn't ever have taken a buck from him if he'd offered it"  
"Hey you two," Kethriel said, "Cool it. There'll be time for all this later"  
"Wait," Bunnie said suddenly, and the expression on her face became as blank as plywall. Her eyelids flitted and her eyes rolled back a little into her head.  
"Bunnie?" Kethriel asked, his tone of voice betraying more than a little concern for her wellbeing. The android rabbit, or Rabbot as she seemed now to be known, did not respond to her name. Then the episode ended just as quickly as it had been brought on, the life flooding back into her face, and she grimaced a little. "Ouch"  
"What happened?" Sonic asked.  
"I yearn for the days when I could count my senses on one hand," she replied, "You might be interested to know that there's a facility for robotics research nearby where you might be able to obtain that information you needed to find"  
"Your... robot parts told you that"  
"No, my memory told me that. My robot parts told me that there's a slow-moving warm body tailing us about fifty feet back moving at the same exact speed that we are"  
Kethriel squinted into the darkness behind them. "I can't see anything"  
"Someone's there," Bunnie assured him, "Let's go, and be careful."

The King of Mobitropolis wore his more modest attire on this morning, but for a king, it was still more regal than even the fanciest clothes in most people's wardrobes. Andreas Packbell approached the monarch wearing the full uniform that his title of Military Commander carried with it; with crisp and polished shoes, spotless royal-blue trousers, a matching overcoat over a collared black shirt buttoned all the way to his adam's apple, blood-red tie tucked into his coat, twelve badges pinned vertically over his left breast and six thin red strokes to denote his rank stitched onto each thick, sharp shoulderpad. He saluted his king, raising one black-gloved hand to his forehead. He stood so straight that a marble wouldn't have rolled off the top of his head.  
"These certainly are troubling times," King Acorn said, "Come now, Andreas. You know that isn't necessary. Tell me, what has the council arranged"  
"There is conflict among the council, sire," Packbell replied, "But it has been conceded, as I suspected it would, that our security must be elevated immediately. I wish it was not so, but the fact is that there is upwards of a ninety percent chance that the group responsible for this morning's riot will regroup and attempt a more serious attack. We managed several arrests, and those questioned have assured us that these terrorists are only warming up"  
The king nodded solemnly. "I dearly hope that my announcement this evening will not further aggrivate this situation. It's not easy being in my position, Andreas. It breaks my heart that I have to be protected from the very people I try to keep happy. I hope that my dear daughter will not resent me for my gift to her"  
"Never, sire. She adores you." There was a short pause, then, "Sire... I must make a request"  
"Anything, certainly"  
"I desire your permission to commandeer and relocate the crown jewels. Personally"  
The king faltered, pausing to take in the statement. "Andreas," he said, "It has always been one of the most guarded of traditions in Mobitropolis that the jewels remain in their place... they're moved only during a crowning ceremony"  
"I realise the gravity of the request, sire, but troubling times often call for bold measures. Royal tradition has not carried as much significance in modern times as it once did - I recall that, only three years ago, the jewels were removed for cleaning, and there was no outrage over the decision. It's just that I fear for the safety of such important symbols of sovereignty in light of these recent attacks. If I may be so bold, Majesty, if it were up to me, I would send yourself, your family and the jewels to the most secure of locations until the problem is stabilised. However I doubt that you would agree to such a thing, so I am prepared to compromise"  
The king smiled. "You're right," he said, "My place is here. I suppose the king and his city share the same fate as the captain and his ship. Very well, Andreas, do what you feel you must. I trust your wisdom in these matters"  
"Thank you, Majesty," Packbell replied, "I will make the arrangements immediately, and I shall see you tonight at the celebrations"  
"I hope so, my friend, I do hope so."

Zero Seven, evidently, was built upon the site of the largest and most advanced robotics facility in the history of Mobius. Kethriel knew this, and during their conversations he revealed to Sonic many stories about the significance of this site throughout history. Kethriel's grandfather had fought in the Android Wars, and passed down his stories of grand adventure. Zero Seven was so named as a play on the fact that, before the time of the Android Wars, there were six companies across Westerica that monopolised the robotics industry. This facility was built on the site of the head research complex of Mobocorp Robotics Limited, the infamous conglomorate who almost single-handedly triggered the Wars when they gave birth to B-311, a defense system run by an artificial intelligence labelled colloquially as The Unmind. Mobocorp sold B-311 to Mobitropolis, who named the system the Perfunctory Aggression Containment Consciousness, or PACC. At the same time, the five competing robotics companies created similar systems (though none as powerful as B-311/PACC) and sold them to other nations. Corporate rivalry between Mobocorp and its competitors was always strong; the difference was that now each of them had command over the robot militaries of the world. The rest was inevitable.  
Now as the four of them wandered through the halls of the seventh great temple of robotics, a comparison that Kethriel regarded as both terribly bad taste and yet extremely appropriate, the evil that had once spread from here to every point on the globe like a virus of the blood seemed to rise again to infect everything around it.  
"Do you people even know where you're going?" Carrion asked as they weaved throughout the catacombs of this robot metropolis. Whether their direction had purpose or whether they were simply following an instinct to move toward the light was unclear, but the darkness wore thin as an eerie red light slowly enveloped them, as well as a heat that was first somewhat cloying but became uncomfortable.  
"Sure," Kethriel replied, "We're moving into the heart of this monster"  
Eventually their path proved itself a dead end, leading them onto some form of balcony or viewing platform. But the sight before them almost caused Sonic to choke on his own breath.  
The red-orange illumination came from a massive vat, a lake really, of what looked like magma but was probably molten metal. Tubes from all directions deposited the slow-moving but immensely heated goop into the lake of fire below. All around this massive chamber was what looked like the clockwork guts of the biggest machine ever conceived. Cogs and pistons, each as big as a building, moved in harmony and kept this room operating as it should. Some kind of giant conveyor belt scooped the molten material up and carried it away while an enormous churning/mixing device turned within the lake and prevented it from falling stagnant.  
"What is this place?" Sonic asked, in awe.  
"The robot revolution needs a lot of metal," Bunnie said, "Millions of tonnes of it. There are mines all over the continent, they rip it out of the ground and ship it by the train-load. It all winds up here. They melt it down and prepare it for refining. There are ships blasting into space almost every day from here, taking metal up to ARK. The rest gets sent to the Iron Ward"  
"If only we had explosives big enough," Kethriel remarked, "If we could just take out Zero Seven, wipe it off the face of Mobius. We'd finish this in one big mushroom cloud"  
"Make sure Martin and Robotnik are here when it happens," Sonic added. "We should get going, this heat is getting to me"  
He turned back toward the darkness, but before he could move anywhere, something startled him so badly he almost fell over backwards. It was so quick that he wasn't even certain he saw it at all. Two eyes, glowing as red as embers, disembodied in the dark void, as though they had been watching him from behind. Whatever creature or demon those eyes belonged to fled as soon as he turned.  
"Whoa"  
"What's wrong?" Kethriel asked guardedly.  
"I saw something"  
"You saw what"  
"I don't know, it looked like eyes, but they were lit up- I mean, they weren't mobian, they were"  
"Machine"  
"Probably... I mean maybe, gee I don't know, I'm not even sure I saw anything at all." Sonic shivered as he recalled the partial image he had received from his repressed memories the day before, of some awful silver creature with orange eyes that chased him in the dark. Those eyes hadn't looked like the ones he had just seen.  
"That's freaky," Carrion said, "In fact, that's a little too freaky, kids. I'm starting to worry here that we're in a little ways over our head"  
"If we keep our wits about ourselves we'll be fine," Kethriel said, "Now, which way"  
There were three avenues available to them: One path led back to the prison complex, the way they had come. Another path led away to the left and another to the right. Kethriel looked one way, then the other, then looked to Bunnie for guidance.  
"I'm not exactly sure, sugar-hog," she said, "I don't... quite remember. I've been here before, they took me along here... Both ways look kinda the same, don't they"  
"Well, I guess there's only one solution to this," Kethriel said, "Bun, you take the vulture down that way, Sonic and I will take the other road and one of us is bound to reach nirvana one way or another"  
"Right, and do you think it's a good idea to split up in light of evidence that we're being persued by warm bodies and things with lit-up eyes?" Carrion asked.  
"Don't worry, I'll protect you," Bunnie said with a smile.  
"Being that we're a little strapped for time, I don't think we have a lot of alternatives," Kethriel added, "Just be discreet, and if you get into trouble, don't be a hero"  
"Wasn't planning to be," Carrion replied.

Sonic. A funny name for a hedgehog. Not that he was an average looking hedgehog. Knuckles watched as the queerly coloured figure wandered through the Zero Seven facility with a distinct aura of patience and determination. This was the blue blur that he had heard about, and by gosh, he was only a kid. What was he, fifteen? The teenager flaunted some bizarre kind of youth fashion statement, his fur and spines all dyed electric blue and slicked back into some sleek three-row design along his back. All he wore were two red sneakers and a cloth bag of nondescript contents around his neck. The Freedom Fighters' mercenary was some kind of kid punk probably devoid of any amount of life experience in the real world. But there was no doubt about it, somewhere the kid had learned how to run. Like the wind, if the stories had any truth to them.  
Knuckles had his first good look at Sonic the Hedgehog from a distance. He watched the kid for a very long time. Was he really a threat to the world? If he managed to collect all of the Chaos Emeralds and figured out how to harness their power, Knuckles supposed that it was quite possible. And this Sonic had gone to great lengths to do just that. No matter where in the world the emeralds were taken, the blue blur just kept showing up, despite any tribulations thrust in his way. Knuckles was taken by an immense desire quite suddenly to teach this hedgehog a lesson. There was no reason anybody but himself should want to collect the seven emeralds. He was their guardian, sworn to keep the tyrants of this crooked world away from a power that was never meant to be harnessed. This kid just needed a good smack, and Knuckles knew just the echidna to give it to him. Sonic's back was turned, and Knuckles stepped out of the shadows with his fists bared. His face stony, upper lip stiff as a board, his hands became boulders, and he drew back a right hook-  
Suddenly another hedgehog appeared, an older figure with rugged brown spines, and Knuckles was back behind a corner, his back flat against the wall. The hedgehogs talked among themselves; he hadn't been seen. That was a close call, he realised it wouldn't serve him well to underestimate what he was up against. He reminded himself of his priorities - don't be a loose cannon, don't forget yourself, protect the emeralds, protect the emeralds, protect the emeralds.  
He watched the two hedgehogs talking for a little while, but his attention all at once turned to a patch of darkness to his left. He had thought that he had been alone with the hedgehogs who stood around the corner and to the right of him, but now it appeared that there was a fourth figure. As he was spying, so too was he being spied upon, and this unnerved him because he did not consider himself to be an easy echidna to sneak up on. The mystery figure, to make things even creepier, seemed to have red glowing eyes. Knuckles locked eye contact with the two bright red crescents of light that silhouetted a figure obscuring itself in the shadows, and his mind raced as he tried to decide how he would escape this ambush. Fight or flight? His attention turned again to the hedgehogs, but they had vanished, moved away while he had been focused on the other figure. He turned again to the being in the shadows, but it too had disappeared, soundlessly and forgotten like a waking dream. He refused to acknowledge the nugget of fear that threatened to rise within him, but almost had to uproot himself before he could continue onward-  
As he took a step forward, something grabbed him in a choke-hold from behind. A black-furred arm pulled him back into the darkness and wrapped around his waist. The sharp edge of a large knife was now pressed uncomfortably against his throat, positioned to slice his head half-off should his attacker wish it so. Realising instantly that he had been captured, Knuckles closed his eyes and puckered his lips in silent, helpless fury. The figure behind him had breath so rancid that he could smell it even when the attacker whispered in his ear.  
"Where is he?"

Sonic saw Kethriel returning, and for a moment thought that he sensed somebody creeping up behind him, but put it down to nerves. When he looked back, nobody was there of course, and he scolded himself for being so foolish.  
"There's something down that way," Kethriel told him, "It might be what we're looking for. Be careful, there might be SWAT-bots on guard around here. Or something else, for that matter. I'm not sure I want to find out what kind of monstrosity has glowing eyes and slinks around the corridors of Zero Seven. Come on, let's go"  
The hedgehogs wandered into something that was quite clearly some kind of research facility, but to their disappointment it appeared to be disused. Dozens of computer terminals were lined up in rows but abandoned. Ambiguous machinery, the purpose of which couldn't be determined, was scattered about and left to rust. There were cobwebs and dust all over everything.  
"It doesn't look like this place gets much attention," Kethriel said.  
Sonic murmered a reply and looked about the room with a growing yet unexplainable interest. Something about this place stirred up his feelings. He couldn't be sure why.  
Kethriel called him and told him that he found something interesting, and Sonic jogged over to find him, anxious for some explanation as to his reaction. Kethriel was staring into another room, a huge chamber with a very tall ceiling lined with scaffolding. Sonic was about to step inside to take a look, but his body froze up, refused to function as though the connection between his mind and body had been severed.  
(no... i won't go back)  
What was this? His eyes wide and unblinking, Sonic stared into the chamber with what could only be described as a powerful and uncanny sense of sheer terror. His body trembled. He couldn't breathe.  
"What's wrong, Sonic?" Kethriel asked him.  
Sonic tried to stammer out a response. "I"  
(you can't make me go back in there)  
The chamber was dominated by yet more machinery, but it looked almost like some kind of gymnasium. Sonic forced himself against every fibre of his being to step inside. One foot after the other, straining, like the air inside was too thick to move freely, and fighting the most intense fear he could ever remember experiencing outside of his dreams.  
"Sonic"  
A conveyor belt was attached to one of the largest machines. It was no higher than the floor and about two meters in length. Sonic was terrified of this most of all, and was shocked to find that he knew every inch of this machine as well as he knew the shape of his own body.  
"What is this place?" he demanded, glaring at Kethriel as though the other hedgehog held all the answers. Kethriel just shrugged, visibly distraught at Sonic's reaction.  
Sonic looked back over the chamber and found that he was getting a headache. He brought a trembling hand up to shield his eyes and stumbled back toward the entrance, his resolve shattered.  
"Sonic! Welcome back"  
This voice echoed down from above, and both hedgehogs looked upward to see a large shape staring down at them from the scaffolding. Neither of them had any difficulty recognising who it was. Ivo Robotnik grinned at them, his hands clasped atop the railing, his spectacles gleaming in the dim fluorescent light.  
"Robotnik!" Kethriel exclaimed. The professor ignored his presence entirely and considered Sonic, who looked back up at him with confusion and terror.  
"I have to admit," Robotnik said, "It certainly is a surprise, seeing you here again, after all these years. I thought I was rid of you for good"  
"What are you talking about?" Sonic demanded, "Why do you know me? What is this place"  
Robotnik looked a little perplexed for a moment, as though he had been taken by surprise, unsure of how to respond. Then his grin returned, wider than ever.  
"You don't remember? This really is fascinating. Do you recall anything? Anything at all"  
"I've never met you before in my life!" Sonic snapped, and although he couldn't say exactly why, he knew that it was a lie.  
"Come now, Sonic, I can see the recognition in your face. Perhaps you just don't want to remember. Take a look around, see if anything jogs your memory"  
"Sonic, what is he talking about?" Kethriel asked, but Sonic didn't hear him. His eyes traced the curves of the chamber, the way the light reflected off every defunct piece of machinery, and suddenly they seemed to burst to life, if only in his mind. He saw the treadmill spinning and saw himself atop it, running for his life but never moving anywhere. He saw the wires attached to his head, saw the ghosts standing around him, cold and emotionless, but they weren't ghosts at all, and in fact there was only one. They coalesced into a single being, and that being was Dr Robotnik.  
"You do remember," Robotnik said.  
"No!" Sonic exclaimed, and he looked up at Robotnik, looked past him. The wall behind the scientist was emblazoned with a giant, colourful symbol.  
(snakes)  
The scientist laughed. The symbol on the wall bled directly into Sonic's brain. The red and the blue, twined together.  
(snakes)  
But not snakes at all. The picture was of a strand of DNA, a ladder of tubes, one side red and the other blue, twisted in two places. Haunted by this image his entire life, Sonic instantly recognised it. At the moment his eyes fell upon it, the brick wall inside his mind that seperated his conscious mind from his memories exploded in a shower of dust and mortar.  
Crrrrrrrrack!  
And culminating with the worst physical and mental shock of his life, Sonic released a shrill scream and remembered everything.

"Where is who?" Knuckles asked his assailant. The unseen figure behind him was breathing heavily, each breath coming out in a rasp with the smell of rotting meat and cigarettes.  
"The blue rat," the attacker replied, "And the mutant traitor"  
"I have to warn you," Knuckles said, "I'm not the kind of guy you want to mess with. You better put the knife away now and maybe you won't get hurt"  
"I'm calling the shots here," the attacker replied, and he moved closer, creating space between the inside of his elbow and Knuckles' chest. It was all the opportunity the echidna needed, and in a flash he brought his own arm up between himself and the assailant's forearm, twisted his body and disarmed his enemy. With a powerful kick he sent the other flying backward, and turned to face the fool who had the gall to take a blade to his neck.  
The hostile figure was a bat with entirely jet black fur and a dark suit, like a moving shadow, his eyes, white collar and nail-like teeth distinctly standing out against the rest of his body. For a moment he looked terribly shocked and enraged that he had been bested, but quickly managed to choke it down and squeeze out a fake-looking grin. Knuckles, embracing the return of his upper-hand, produced the most menacing glare that he could manage. "I told you not to mess with me," he said, "Now you're gonna bleed, unless you want to start doing this my way"  
"Whoa, whoa, hey there," the bat pleaded, "Hold your horses little buddy, you win, okay? I ain't never been the kind of guy who can't admit defeat. Just means I should have brought a bigger weapon"  
"You just keep telling yourself that," Knuckles smirked, "Talk. Who are you? You're a Freedom Fighter, right"  
"A freedom-what-now? You got things all wrong, Red. I don't endorse freedom at all, that ain't my flavour at all. The name's Nails. I'm... well, you could say I'm an entrepreneur," he said, then thought a moment and added "Of many hats"  
"Well what are you doing here?" Knuckles spat, "Do you work for Robotnik? For the prince? Are you just some guy with a deathwish? What the hell is your business creeping up on me and holding a knife to my throat"  
"Take a look in the mirror," Nails replied, "Shaking those big spiked fists in my face, shouting and scowling like a wounded beast. You work by the same principle that I do; that more often than not you need to instill a bit of fear to get answers. That's the way the world works, am I right? Being that you're the first living mobian I've seen in this dump since I got here, I thought you might be able to help me with my problem"  
Knuckles was more enraged by his failure to intimidate, and by this stranger's smooth attempt to identify with him. But he wasn't sure what he could do that wouldn't simply reaffirm Nails' statement. "And what exactly," he asked, "is your problem"  
"I'm looking for somebody"  
"The 'blue rat'? Sonic"  
Nails smiled again. "Precisely"  
"What do you know about Sonic? Are you a part of his movement"  
"I ain't a part of anything, Red, all I know is he stole something from me. And it isn't even the thing itself that I miss if you know what I mean. It's the principle. Nobody steals from Nails the Bat, I'm at the top of the food chain and that's where I'm sticking around. Ain't nobody but nobody that's ever gotten away with swindling me"  
"So you've got personal business with him. You don't know anything about Freedom Fighters or Chaos Emeralds"  
"You're speaking another language to me, Red. I don't care what he's into, all I know is I've got some unfinished business to take care of, and the world's gonna be less crowded when I'm through"  
Knuckles lowered his guard a little, and stepped back enough to allow the bat to get back onto his feet. He still watched carefully to make sure he wasn't going to whip out another weapon.  
"You followed him all the way here? You're a long way from civilisation"  
"I have powerful contacts. There's nowhere on Mobius he can hide"  
"Yeah, well," Knuckles said, "It seems like you're not alone. The hedgehog's been doing a lot of stealing from a lot of powerful people. He's after something that belongs to me, as well. I've been on his trail too"  
"He travels with someone," Nails said, "A kid. A fox with two tails. The rotten traitor's the only reason the rat ain't dead yet, and I got my business with him too"  
"Never seen him," Knuckles replied, "Right now he's just kicking around with some other hedgehog anarchist buddy of his"  
"Interesting. I guess I'll just have to squeeze it out of him. Everyone has their breaking point, y'know." His grin widened, and Knuckles was overcome with how sleazy and artificial it was. "Hey," the bat said, "Why don't we help each other out? You're a mean looking number"  
"No," Knuckles said flatly.  
"Aw, come on," the bat pressed, "You know what they say about the enemy of my enemy"  
"We have nothing in common, I don't trust you, as a matter of fact I don't like you"  
"Trust," Nails hissed, and his expression darkened for a moment. "I could tell you a thing or two about trust, Red. It's nothing but an illusion created between the people who have power and the people who can help them get more power. Forget it, you don't need it. As for liking me, well, you probably wouldn't be alone with that opinion. You don't need that either. But as long as we both want a piece of this guy, we share a goal, an ambition, a vision of the future. We'll be helping each other whether we're working together or not"  
"Fine then," Knuckles said, "Help me all you want, see if I complain. Just don't get in my way and don't pretend we're somehow in league. I don't work with anyone, I work alone. That's my position and it's not changing"  
"Suits me fine"  
"And bring a knife near me again and I swear I'll rip your lungs out."

There wasn't any dust in the Gene Room when Sonic was a child. The chamber was sterile, the machinery all clean and perfectly maintained. Sonic lay on his bed, staring up at that great big picture of the blue-and-red DNA strand posted above his head. It was the last thing he saw before he went to sleep, and the first thing he saw when he woke up in the morning. That picture haunted his dreams, and in his dreams it appeared as a couple of poisonous snakes taunting and threatening him. All his woes in the world were represented in this one image.  
"Sonic," his master's voice commanded him, and the young hedgehog, sluggish from lack of sleep, dragged himself to his feet.  
Robotnik sighed and pressed a button on his terminal. The cuff on Sonic's wrist suddenly delivered a powerful charge of electricity into him, flooring him immediately in a series of body-wracking spasms. When the punsihment ended, he shot back onto his feet as quickly as he was able.  
"Now, why did I do that?" Robotnik asked.  
"I was lazy," Sonic replied.  
"That's right," Robotnik replied, "I want to see your potential at one hundred percent, Sonic, not twenty or ten. That's why you exist. What are you"  
"I am a nonperson. I have no right to life. I exist only to develop my potential"  
"And what happens if you waste your potential"  
"I must be reprimanded"  
"That's right. You disappointed me this morning, Sonic. If I see much more of this laziness, I might have to give up on you. And you know what that means. I'll let Silver inside your room and he'll tear you to shreds"  
Sonic shivered and dared to meet the cold, static glare from the orange-eyed atrocity that followed Robotnik around. Silver (or The Shambler, as he had been unable to properly pronounce the thing's name in his infancy) was just about the most frightening thing in the world. He was an everpresent threat that Robotnik used against Sonic at any given opportunity, and Sonic was always careful to appease the beast and its master lest he experience a painful death on the end of the monster's claws.  
"Now," Robotnik said, "Sonic, I want you to show me how fast your speed is developing. Don't try to put in a poor effort because I'll be able to tell, and it will make Silver very angry and I'm not sure I'll be able to stop him from bursting in there and killing you"  
"Okay," Sonic said, and promptly moved to the treadmill where he knew he would be spending the next eight or nine hours of his day. It was a living hell, and every day he begged for either death or escape. Robotnik warned him constantly that attempting either would result in a particularly painful reprimand.  
(now you see why you needed to forget this place)  
The sterility of the Gene Room melted away before Sonic's tear-filled eyes, the chamber filling with dust and rot. He aged twelve or thirteen years in an instant, but his memories remained crystal clear to him as though they had happened minutes ago, or were still happening. Kethriel appeared at his side in a futile attempt at comfort, but Sonic's trauma was unspeakable, and he cried so hard he thought he might break apart.  
"What have you done to him?" Kethriel demanded.  
Robotnik, speaking from his safe position in the observation platforms, appeared flippantly amused. Something was standing beside him, now. A hideous jagged metal robot-thing with a sharp spike for a nose and orange spotlights for eyes. Sonic appeared much more terrified at the sight of it, and crawled backward on his hands and rear end.  
"Over a decade ago," Robotnik explained, "I began a programme, kind of a personal study, into the nature of artificial intelligence and the self-consciousness of machines. My goal was to create the perfect assassin, a machine that would possess all of the benefits of a robot warrior, but one that would emulate, resemble, and even identify itself as a life form. Robots are more powerful and less vulnerable to damage than organics, but a machine has never been able to compete in the same league as a well-trained mobian when it comes to stealth, intelligence and improvised tactics." He smiled. "Until now"  
"So what?" Kethriel demanded, trying to offer Sonic a hand. Sonic battered it away, whimpered and covered his eyes.  
Robotnik continued: "Silver here was my first attempt at a prototype, and was a failure. He is powerful, but he works on the principles of a machine. His tactics rely on a system of programmed responses and brute force. My realisation was that in order to make a machine that could emulate life, I would need to model it after life. I would have to stop trying to one-up Mother Nature and actually follow her designs. That is when I decided to create Sonic.  
"Our friend Sonic is a mould, a blueprint, a model prerequisite to a design. I obtained him as an embryo, tweaking his genetic code so that he would possess the abilities I wished to incorporate into my assassin. Speed. Stealth. I designed his spindash ability as a natural defense that I could alter later in my final design. When the little rodent was born he came out bright blue. Genetics are fascinating, aren't they? I never quite found it as interesting as robotics, as building something with your own two hands and breathing life into it. Now that is power.  
"I studied Sonic for years while he grew. I studied the way his joints moved, his instincts and impulses. He didn't enjoy our time together very much. That's just the price of progress, I suppose. When he was about six years old, I got careless and he managed to escape. It never bothered me very much because by that time I had already gathered the data I needed to complete my design. Did you hear that, Sonic? You have a sibling! His name is Mecha Sonic, and he is perfect"  
"You're insane," Kethriel said.  
"No!" Robotnik protested, "I am in touch with sanity, with rationality. It's you who wander about like some kind of flower-child preaching love and freedom like these things really exist in the world. You care about this spineless little aborted experiment in all his cosmic insignificance, and you'll live and die, having learned nothing. I don't even have the slightest desire to even begin to try to explain myself to you"  
"You'll get what's coming to you!" the hedgehog insisted, "You and everyone else stupid enough to believe Martin's delusions of grandeur! You'll get what you deserve"  
"No," Robotnik replied, and smiled as though he had just heard an anecdote that was amusing without being funny, "I won't." He turned and walked in the direction from whence he had come, vanishing from sight. The jagged thing, Silver, The Shambler, watched the hedgehogs for a moment longer before following its master. Then there was nothing but the gentle sobbing of Sonic, his mind torturously complete.  
"Sonic," Kethriel said softly, "Are you okay? Can you get up"  
Sonic mumbled something into his hands.  
"Sonic, I know you're upset but we have to move, okay? This isn't a good place to be"  
"I-" the blue hedgehog sobbed, and looked up at Kethriel with wet and bloodshot eyes, "I am a nonperson"  
"What did you say"  
"I have n-no right to life. I exist o-on-ly to dev-elop my potential"  
He pulled his body into a tight ball and lay on the cold floor of the Gene Room, the forgotten place where his life once had purpose.


	12. Wing Fortress

PROJECT MOBITROPOLIS  
S Peter Davis 

All characters (C) SEGA, Archie and SP Davis 2004.  
Used without permission

* * *

WING FORTRESS

An early-afternoon envoy from Mobitropolis dispatched quietly from the city at around one o'clock, while preparations for the evening's celebrations were in full swing and nobody really paid enough attention to the comings and goings, as there were quite many.  
The royal seal was emblazoned upon the side of the jet, Prince Martin's private airline, and it flew alone in the flawless blue skies above the still and surprisingly placid city. The people of Mobitropolis were still reeling from the unprecedented terrorist attack early that morning; confused, disillusioned. Their sense of security, false, had been pulled from under them like a magician's tablecloth trick, and they stood standing, ignorant to the severity of the situation but suspicious and uneasy nonetheless.  
Martin's convoy was absent of higher life forms but for two - the prince himself, and the crown's Minister for Defense, Andreas Packbell. Even the pilot was a robot, an arrangement which, as always, limited witnesses and made for a much easier siezure of power.  
"I much prefer it when things run smoothly," Martin said, "Although I suppose nothing is ever without complications, the world is too unpredictable that way. Still, this will work, as long as you and Dr Robotnik adhere strictly to the instructions that have been devised. This will be quick and, if everyone does what they are supposed to do, it will be painless. We'll all get what we want"  
"Painless for some, perhaps," Packbell replied, and he looked down at a locked briefcase he kept at his side, "But we never all get what we want."

Time rolled on.

The air was clear all over the continent, even the polluted skies of Kirandul were blue and cheerful. In the mountains, above a strangely positioned airstrip, a stork named Flightless Joe piloted a small red Tornado model biplane in an erratic, somewhat eccentric flight pattern. Martin's jet could be seen from this vantage point as a tiny dot above the inland horizon, but it would not be passing through here and its proximity did not alarm Joe in the least. The remenants of the early morning fog was clearing and the mountains were visible below in all their natural glory.

Time rolled on.

A train powered its way through these mountains, black smoke billowing from its stack. It's operators, robots; its carriages laden with thousands of barrels of Acornex produce - Oil from off the coast and mega mack from Station Square - en route to the Barren Quarter where a discreet shuttle launch was scheduled for three o'clock. Its crew, robots. No questions, just comfortable obedience.

Time rolled on.

But time was indifferent. The ancientness of time assured that it had seen one revolution after another throughout the great, great age of Mobius, and this was to be no more significant to the beat of the ages than any other. Time was nonchalant. To the people, however, their lives fleeting, this was to be very significant. A legacy hundreds of generations old was about to crumble into dust and there was absolutely nothing that any of them could do about it.

Time, the behemoth of cruelty, rolled on.

There was a flurry of activity in the forest village of Knothole that day. Sally Acorn, princess and Freedom Fighter, graced the village with a very rare daytime visit in preparation for the storm they knew was coming. Plans were being laid, information exchanged and concerns attended to.  
"Mother Hen is going to lay its egg any day now," Slick, the weasil, said to the few members of the Operations Council who could be present, "Basically as soon as Martin can get the seven emeralds aboard the ARK, it's crunch time. Which means that from this point on, we have to be very vigilant in protecting those crown jewels"  
Sally, Slick, Rotor and Rockfall sat facing each other, shrouded from prying eyes inside a small tent.  
"How do we even know that Martin knows where the seventh emerald is?" Rotor asked.  
"Oh, he knows," Rockfall assured him, "We were taking a huge chance assuming he didn't in the first place, and I don't like taking chances. But Martin knows about the Eye of Mobitropolis already, and we know he's employed people to track down the locations of these rocks. If he hasn't figured it out by now, then frankly we've been attributing too much intelligence to him"  
"So when do you think he's going to strike"  
"Tomorrow," Sally said, "That will be the best time for him. Assemble his forces overnight and strike in the morning, at daybreak, while everyone is in bed and hung over. I'm also pretty sure that he wants to wait until after my father's announcement tonight. Just, you know, so that he can hear it for himself. To be certain that he's really not in line for the throne. I don't think he's ever really accepted it"  
"Well, if that's the case," Rockfall replied, "We will have to assemble ourselves today. And we need that information on the SWAT network by yesterday. Has there been any word from Kethriel and the blue kid"  
"The last time Keth checked in he was close to Zero Seven," Slick said, "He has to retain radio silence until he's safely out of range, in case his transmissions are intercepted. That was... five hours ago. If they're successful"  
"Which they will be"  
"Right. They should be due for contact any time. We're standing by the radio for any word"  
"I won't be contactable during the celebrations tonight," said Sally, "I'll trust that you guys have things in order and I will try to get in contact before daybreak tomorrow, but I can't promise that. I want to be with my father when things get serious"  
"Roger that," Rockfall replied, "I hope everyone had a good sleep last night, because we're in for an all-nighter. Start boiling some coffee and let's get a move-on."

Dr Robotnik's metropolis of Zero Seven had no want for streets, for commerce or money, for any of the other things that one might think about when imagining the concept of a city. It was in every sense of the word a robot metropolis, and if robots could be considered a parody of life, then they were a cheap one.  
The machines marched in perfect symmetry through the halls of the enormous complex, machines of every purpose imaginable. Philosophy has a number of things to say about the meaning of life, the nature of purpose, but surely these machines, these robots, were the very epitome of what it meant to have purpose. Each was created for a single reason and existed for that reason one hundred percent. There were construction robots, repair robots, maintainence robots, security robots, each with dozens of submodels designed to deal with just one particular facet of the continued operation of the complex. Each had one reason to be, and none ever strayed outside that purpose, never questioned their occupation, never wanted for more, never even grappled for understanding. None ever had any reason to.  
None, except one.  
A small crablike security drone scurried along one of the many dark halls of Zero Seven, its many legs tapping on the concrete and metal halls as it unquestioningly went about its silent duty. One of its limbs, a large and club-like spiked claw, was attached to a pressurised piston and designed to shatter arms and legs with a single blow. The robot stopped its movement suddenly in the darkness and took a defensive stance. Did it detect a presence? Its sensors were unsure, leading to some degree of confusion in its simple mind. Hesitantly, it moved onward.  
Yes, there was definitely something nearby, and its presence was a paradox to the uncomplicated machine's instruments. The presence was almost reading like a confederated unit, another of Robotnik's machines, but the crab-robot could not discern its purpose or the nature of its activities, its reason for being. Nor could it get a lock on the other unit's exact location. All it could find was an occasional glimpse of two red points of light in the darkness.  
Moving quickly, soundlessly, like something made of wind, the equivocal anomoly strode out of the shadow, red eyes blazing, and with a lack of strain that would be nothing if not terrifying for an observer, it ripped the crab-robot apart like it was made of pudding. The severely damaged machine, its severed parts sparking and whining in mechanical agony, managed to spin around and activate its fierce club-arm, the vicious implement striking out and pummeling what appeared to be the assailent's knee joint. With a very loud clanging noise that echoed through the halls, the club struck home with a powerful impact that would easily break a bone in two. Rather than the desired effect, however, it only slightly scratched the royal blue paintwork of the attacking machine and failed to even leave a dent. The assailent proceeded to smash what remained of the crab-robot into so much scrap, pounding it into the ground again and again and again until the machine was completely unrecognisable, the concrete beneath it cracked and indented.  
"Hello," the attacking machine said to the scrap, "I am Mecha." Its red eyes glowed brighter than the fluorescent lights around it, and made the blue metal around its face appear purple. Mecha kneeled down beside the remains of the former robot, sorting through the pieces with the semblance of an inquisitive child.  
"You are no longer operational," Mecha said, "You are unable to respond"  
The blue robot held up a flattened piece of equipment which may have been a gasket or an alternator plug or any number of other items moments ago. Now it was good for nothing, an inanimate fragment of debris.  
"You were a machine," Mecha pointed out, "You did not excrete blood when I opened your body." It (he?) looked down at the scratched leg, blue paint chipped away to expose solid grey steel underneath. "Nor do I. This is an interesting development. I will continue to collect data. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter"  
The robot faded into the darkness, leaving the evidence of its presence behind in the hallway. Soon enough, another robot, designed for its own specific role, would come across the scrap metal and report it. Another robot would clean up and remove the mess. Another would patch the concrete. Soon it would be like nothing happened, for in the robot metropolis, nobody wept for the loss of one of their own, for nobody had tears, or conscience, or remorse. That was the way it was.

"Sonic, you have to get up," Kethriel begged, "Get up, kiddo. I'm betting that this place is going to be swarming with SWAT-bots before you can say knife"  
The hedgehog mumbled something under his breath.  
"Sonic"  
"Don't... call... me... Sonic!" he shrieked.  
"Say what"  
"That's what he called me! It's in the past now, I'm not Sonic anymore! I left it behind me, don't you understand? That's why I forgot all this!" He tried to fight back the sobs, "I want it to get... back... in! I want to pack it away and lock the door and never remember any of this ever again"  
"Sonic"  
"Oh why, why did I do this? Why did I get myself involved with all of this? I was happy! I was happy knowing nothing"  
"Sonic, I know it hurts," Kethriel said, "But you can't run from your past, sooner or later you have to face up to what happened and deal with it"  
"No, you don't understand," Sonic protested, "I was happier not knowing... for years I wished to forget, I was so depressed I almost wasted away. Just knowing that- t-that there's no reason for my life, it's not a product of love or- longing or anything, I mean, nobody ever wanted to love me, j-just to use me, I was a thing to be used..." His face crumpled for a moment and then he fought it, "I was just an experiment like a rat in a cage and then I was thrown away, there's no room for me in the world"  
"That's not true and by now you should know it," Kethriel replied, "Look at everything you've accomplished. You, all by yourself. If it weren't for you, I can't imagine that the resistance would have come as far as it has. You were a gift from above, Sonic"  
"My head... hurts... so bad... like a jackhammer in my skull"  
"Come on. We have to get moving"  
The hedgehogs stood up, Sonic supported on Kethriel's arm, and they left the Gene Room behind them (forever, Sonic hoped, please be forever) and moved back into the corridors of Zero Seven.  
"This isn't good news for us," Kethriel said, "Being found out, I just hope that Bunnie has better luck. We might just have to focus on getting the heck out of here in one piece"  
"The bag..." Sonic mumbled, "Keth... the silk bag... the bag, we can use the bag!" He grabbed the bag that was still tied around his neck.  
"Not yet, kiddo," Kethriel replied, "There might be time for that later, but we're not quite licked yet. Come on, this way"  
After half an hour (a journey which may have taken five minutes if not for the constant danger of being found by the newly alerted guards) Sonic and Kethriel reached what appeared to be an exit. A window, open just a crack, let the light of day into the dark and gloomy recesses of the mechanical cage that was Zero Seven. But just as Sonic was about to squeeze out into the providence beyond, Kethriel signalled him to stop and looked outside, careful to keep himself hidden.  
The wilderness lay about two hundred feet away. Trees (a symbol of life forbidden within the boundries of the complex) grew freely, shrouding everything beyond them in natural opulence. In front of that, a forty foot barbed wire fence. Between the fence and the hedgehogs, enough SWAT-bots to invade a small nation.  
"Uh-oh," Kethriel gulped.  
"That's very encouraging, Keth," Sonic said, more than a trace of bitterness in his voice. His face was still contorted with misery and tears, and he tendered his aching head with a trembling hand.  
"They're trying to trap us," Kethriel said, "Easier to catch us in the open than inside the complex. Robotnik's probably got the whole place completely surrounded"  
"And what does that mean for us"  
"Well... okay Kethriel, think. Zero Seven backs onto the ocean"  
"Can't swim, Keth"  
"No, but... hey. The launch base"  
"The what"  
"The airport..." Kethriel looked at the other hedgehog with his eyes wide but vacant, thinking hard. "The Flying Battery. We can board the Battery"  
"He's going to catch us"  
"No... no, he isn't. Listen, we can stow away on the Flying Battery. We can see the whole complex from the mansard deck, I'm sure. We'll check out the area, scope a way out, maybe even wait until the search dies down"  
"He's going to catch us"  
"What are you talking about?" Kethriel spoke quietly but harshly.  
"I escaped once, he won't let it happen again. I think I was meant to die here. I finally got away, forgot why I left in the first place, and marched back here like a cow into a slaughterhouse"  
"You really think that's your destiny? Really, Sonic"  
"I wasn't made for this, okay?" Sonic snapped, "I'm a cosmic mistake. Don't you understand that yet? Destiny doesn't apply to me. Destiny is for the children of God. I wasn't made by God, Keth, I was made by some crackpot pretending to be God. You keep talking about everyone having a purpose and all that garbage. But I don't fit into the universal order, any purpose I was supposed to serve was fulfilled when Robotnik built his precious robot. Now I'm redundant. I'm not who you thought I was. I wish I could have told you this a week ago, but I didn't know it yet. I can't help you, Kethriel, I'm sorry but I can't"  
Kethriel's face appeared almost blank, humourless, the expression of a father who had just discovered his child doing something extremely bad. Sonic tapered off at the end of his tirade, intimidated, realising that he had never seen Kethriel this serious before. The semblance of a friendly uncle gave way to a patriarchal aura of vehemence that Sonic hadn't known he was capable of.  
"That's great, Sonic," he said gravely, "Did you come up with that just then"  
Sonic didn't respond, just closed his eyes and nursed his head.  
"Let me ask you something," Kethriel continued, louder, "You're so keen on remembering, now. Why don't you put that keen newly-supercharged memory to work and remember the last week, Sonic? You stole four of the most well-protected items on the planet and you barely broke a sweat, do you remember that? And please don't claim you have amnesia, you've already run that excuse into the ground"  
Sonic murmered something that might have been "So, what"  
"So what's changed in the past hour, Sonic? What - has - changed? Please tell me because I'm dying to know. You remembered something that happened a decade ago. How does that change what happened over the past week? I can't imagine what you're going through right now, and I hate to tell you to get over yourself, but get over yourself. This is not the time"  
Sonic didn't reply.  
"You're a mistake, all right," Kethriel said, and Sonic looked up at him, stung. "You're a mistake," he continued, "You're the biggest mistake Robotnik ever made. He was messing around with fire and he managed to make the blue blur, and now the blue blur is going to make him sorry he was ever born. That fat, butt-ugly psychopath told you that you were useless, don't you want to prove him wrong once and for all? Put yourself together and show me what you're made of"  
Sonic's eyes had welled up again, but his face had hardened. Fear and despondency had turned to rage and loathing, and Kethriel wasn't sure whether it was directed against himself or Robotnik, but either way it was progress.  
Eventually Sonic sniffed, wiped his eyes, and asked "What do we do"  
"That's the kid I know," Kethriel replied, the colour returning slightly to his sullen features, "We get on that battleship, that's what we do. Then we find a way to get out of this stinking place."

Flying above the Zero Seven complex, one would perceive the following: To the north, an enormous domed structure towered above the rest of the complex, and underneath this was the refinery centre where the molten metal was stored and kept hot. Three large cooling towers belched smoke and steam into the atmosphere.  
South of this area was the ocean, and a sparse, open section with many yellowbrick buildings covered the coastline. This was the Zero Seven launch base, a private airport for the exclusive usage of Prince Martin and the many bizarre and diabolical flying machines of Ivo Robotnik. Hangars and landing strips defined the area, but it was dominated by the immense aquatic landing platform spread over the ocean in a circle, clearly designed for something much larger than had ever flown the skies of Mobius. The Flying Battery battleship, holder of the previous record in that particular area, was currently docked in the centre of the launch base. If one looked closer, it was also possible to see Martin's private royal jet parked on a runway.  
Northeast was a large, flat building of a much less industrial design than the others. It was this building that Bunnie and the vulture Carrion were currently attempting to infiltrate. Rhes el Carrion, prisoner in Zero Seven for no longer than a day, had quickly made friends with the tortured soul in the next cell, who had been a miserable wreck to begin with but had quickly been somwhat cheered up by the vulture's caustic sense of humour. Still, Carrion, despite having known about Bunnie's condition, had a hard time adapting to her visual appearance. The rabbit (rabbot now, he reminded himself) had once been quite attractive with a pretty face, shapely athletic body and petite features. Her face remained mercifully untouched, but the beauty nature had bestowed to the rest of her body had been demolished, obliterated by the horrific process of robotization. What was worse was that it was painfully clear that the technology had not yet been perfected. Bunnie looked like the result of a child's inquisitive bedroom experimentation, the way a child might rip the head off one of his sister's dolls and attach it to his own battle robot action figures just for the sake of creating some kind of abomination. There was no real shape to her robotic limbs, they looked chaotic and random as though the metal had been dripped over her like wax. Only Bunnie knew that there was little left of her original body underneath it. What had she been allowed to keep? Her bones were probably intact, her muscles still operative in some form. But below the waist, her nervous system was putty. Robotization was really a form of cyborgification, from what she could figure out. She could even see where the idea had come from. After all, the body's movement was caused by electrical signals through the nerves that told muscles to contract. If the brain could be blocked and the electrical signals sent from a computer instead, then you could make a robot out of anyone. Bunnie's head untouched, she carried no such computer, and her robot parts were confused about where they were to report and sent data to her brain instead, though a different format of data than it was used to. The brain was adaptable, but it produced the queer sensation that she was two entities at once, rabbit and machine.  
"We can't get further," Carrion said, "There are tinheads everywhere. Someone must've raised the alarm"  
The research facility had been put into lockdown, and was swarming with robots - SWATs as well as things that looked like giant toy parodies of crabs and frogs. Carrion didn't want to know what their special talents were.  
"Yeah," Bunnie replied absently, but suddenly she appeared very tired and held her head.  
"Something wrong"  
"I-" Bunnie looked for a moment like she was going to throw up. "I can- hear them- in my head"  
"Hear who? The tinheads"  
Bunnie nodded. "The SWAT-bots are a hive mind, they're attached- to a network. I can- hear"  
"You hear those things talking to one another?" Carrion asked in disbelief.  
"They're really simple, they- they're like pocket calculators- listening to them chattering makes me-" She kneeled down and appeared to gag. Carrion, comfort not his strongest suit, stood by uncomfortably and waited for her to compose herself. Bunnie eventually had to move away from the SWAT-bots' proximity, and recovered quickly.  
"That was unpleasant," she gasped.  
"You can eavesdrop on robots?" Carrion asked her again, "I can't even begin to tell you how awesome that is"  
Bunnie smirked unpalatably. "You'd think so," she said, "But just imagine putting your hand into a bucket of live maggots. That's what listening to them feels like"  
"What did you hear"  
"Nothing much, but... I caught a glimpse... The SWATs have brains like ants, but they're attached to something mentally. Something... smart. Really smart. An intelligence I can't even fathom. I felt it, just for a second"  
"What was it"  
"I don't know, I couldn't say"  
"Well, what now"  
Bunnie sighed. "Nothing much we can do here, right? I say we get our tooshes outta this place and get the hee-haw back to Knothole"  
"Not me," Carrion grunted, "I've had just about enough of this crazy party. Show me the exit and I'm jumping on the first convoy home. No offense you understand"  
"No, I know how you feel. I only wish I could imagine ever feeling at home again."

The Zero Seven launch base sprawled out in front of the intrepid hedgehogs like something almost familiar, even benign. They were fortunate enough to know better. Dozens, even hundreds, of robots worked tirelessly, loading barrels and crates of unknown content onto transport vehicles which buzzed back and forth. To all appearances it seemed like an ordinary airport, except for the gargantuan winged fortress parked on the tarmac.  
The Flying Battery seemed even larger than Sonic had figured when he had seen it in the air. It was a huge vessel, and nothing short of a remarkable feat of engineering could have made it airborne. When he thought about the name 'Flying Battery', Sonic imagined a giant coppertop C-cell with rockets attached to it, and found the idea mildly amusing. Kethriel, also amused, had told him that the word 'battery' also refers to a machine onto which a large number of guns are attached. The Flying Battery was just that, and it had once been the scourge of the sky, the pride and joy of the Mobitropolis air force. In fact, the Android Wars might have been a lot more disasterous had it not been for the Flying Battery and its contribution to the war effort, might even have destroyed Mobitropolis before Prince Martin even drew breath. Ironically, the Battery was a highly advanced piece of technology, and it was declared illegal after the postwar blitz against technological advancement. Now, technology was back in use, and like a phoenix from the ashes, so too was the Flying Battery.  
"Can they see us?" Sonic asked, referring to the worker bots.  
Kethriel replied in the negative, but not with complete certainty. They appeared to be the same model used for similar purposes in Mobitropolis, and those were not equipped with the intelligence to discern an intruder from another robot (or a bar of soap for that matter). It wasn't their purpose. But that wasn't to say that they hadn't been given special upgrades in Zero Seven. Nevertheless, they decided to take a chance, and followed a convoy of transports onto a loading ramp that led directly into the cargo bay of the battleship. They didn't face any trouble from the robots; in fact, the machines were exceedingly polite in offering them the right of way whenever they crossed each other, mistaking them for other workers. Sonic and Kethriel hid in the cargo bay for about half an hour before they became confident that there were no SWAT-bots coming to flush them out, and then they began making their way through the wing fortress to the deck.

Prince Martin Acorn, nineteen, had no idea that fate, the great unknowable, its cloak descending quickly upon Mobitropolis, was about to turn its merciless gaze in his direction. Just as time cared not for mortal affairs, so too was fate unbiased and without prejudice in its actions. Martin was about to find that insurrection was not without its consequences.  
But for now he stood and looked out over Zero Seven with his face in a faint scowl on his face that he wasn't even aware he was making, and an extra long white cigarette between his lips. With dainty grace he removed the cigarette with his thumb and forefinger and blew a long cloud of dark smoke. It was barely visible amongst the pollution that was already in the air.  
The robots marched below him, beastly contraptions of every size and shape. They looked like monsters, shambling and crotcheting about the place almost as though they had no purpose at all. But these things were the epitome of purpose, and he knew that.  
The prince closed his eyes and dreamed. He envisioned Mobitropolis as he had known it as a child. The fairytale world of his youth flooded through his mind, a vision so perfect that he was able to call upon it whenever he wanted. Sunshine fell upon the cobblestone paths like a golden veil, horse-drawn carriages clip-clopped back and forth carrying neatly dressed gentlemen and elegant ladies to their destinations. The grass was as green as emerald, and the waters just as blue as the royal flags that adorned the palace. The palace, firm and proud, watched over the lands as protector and guide, and the young king sat admiring it all. He saw all of this through the king's eyes, and wondered if he looked like King Acorn would have once upon a time. A small tear welled up in Martin's eye as he imagined. Soon the kingdom would look like it did all those years ago. No filth on the streets, no protests and riots, none of the decay and dilapidation that his father had allowed with the decay of his own mind and of the strength of the monarchy. For a minute Martin even allowed himself to dream of a reconciliation between himself and his family. His sister was the apple of her father's eye, and he dreaded the consequences of allowing her to rule, but under his own competant control he fancied that she would eventually come to realise that he had been right all along, even support him. Maybe, he dared imagine, maybe even his father would in time see past Martin's betrayal, see how beautiful the kingdom was, and forgive his son.  
When Martin opened his eyes, though, the beauty of the old Mobitropolis vanished from his mind. He had been about to drag on his cigarette, but stopped with his hand inches from his mouth. What he saw now was a dark, smokey, grease-covered metropolis of steel and grime. One of his hands had been resting on a rail, and he brought it to his face to see that it was covered in soot, as were his clothes.  
Was this the direction he was headed?  
The tear dried up in his eye and the expression of bliss faded from his face. This was the ugliest, most repulsive place he could imagine, the exact antithesis of his eventual goal. Robotnik's dark technologies had choked the life out of this patch of the world. And yet, these were the technologies he was going to use to bring the beauty back to Mobitropolis? Was that even possible?  
Something like horror clouded his face for a moment as he saw a glimpse of Mobitropolis choked with smog like this place, all metal and sludge, robots clunking down every street making clanging noises with their feet, their wheels, their gears. Martin, his mind screamed, in the name of all that is holy what. are. you. doing?  
He blanked the thought out and shook his head hard, as though the dissenting images could be dislodged from his mind. Things would never go that far. He knew what he was doing. There would be no room for cold feet, it was too late for that. Most of all, he must retain his strength. He was about to go to war with the city he loved, but only to cure it of its diseases. Just a tiny prick, a doctor might say, and then everything would be okay. For those who had nothing to fear from his wrath, the transition would be gentle. He dropped the stub of his cigarette on the metal grating below his feet, stamped it out, and walked away from the horrific dystopian vision before him. Tomorrow, Mobitropolis would enter a new era of grand prosperity. Tonight, though, he had a party to attend.

"Kethriel"  
"Yeah"  
They were navigating a musty series of disused industrial corridors aboard the Flying Battery when Sonic called his companion's name in a low voice, and Kethriel turned to him inquisitively. Sonic cleared his throat. "I'm sorry"  
"Sorry?" Kethriel asked, "About what"  
"That stuff I said before," Sonic replied, "About being useless or whatever. You were right, it's not the time to be feeling down on myself. Mobitropolis is more important right now than my own neurosis, right? So, uh, do you forgive me"  
Kethriel laughed cheerfully, and Sonic had already forgotten that this hedgehog was capable of anger. "Of course, kiddo! Hey, we're a team, right? So how's your head"  
"Stings." Sonic winced. "Feels like a dumptruck parked on my face and dumped forty tonnes of memories into my skull. But you know what? It's kinda weird, now that I remember everything, I can't remember not remembering. I mean, it seems crazy to me. How can someone possibly just forget all that stuff"  
"Mind over matter, I guess. It was a really hard time for you, the memories were too painful, you wanted so badly to forget them that you just did"  
"Well, you got that right," Sonic replied, "It hurts to remember. It hurts bad. I'm starting to have the same thoughts that I had ten years ago when I first started living in the garbage, crying myself to sleep every night"  
"Thinking what"  
"That I want to forget. That I'm happier without these pictures in my head, happier without that shambling orange-eyed thing haunting me wherever I go"  
"Yeah, well you need to hold on to those memories of yours," Kethriel said, "That's the only way they'll relinquish their power over you, you know, the only way you can become immune to them. You can never shove the past under the carpet. You'll just keep remembering it all again, and it'll hurt like the dickens every time"  
"I know... And you know what? I think my nightmares were scarier than the truth can ever be. I think it was scarier not knowing what the ghosts really were"  
"Do you think you can pull it together? I mean, enough to be able to face Robotnik? To face that... silver thing, if need be"  
Sonic looked at the ground with dread. "I'm furious," he said, "But I'm still scared of them. Terrified. To the bone. If I come face to face with either of them... I'm not sure what will happen, it could go either way"  
"Well, hopefully you won't have to. When we get back to Mobitropolis, it's really only the prince we have to worry about"  
Sonic smirked. "Not afraid of him. The guy threatened to break my fingers, once"  
"Yeah? What did you do"  
"I gave him the finger"  
Kethriel laughed.  
"But hey," Sonic said, "We never got the information we needed about the SWAT-bots. Are we going to be able to stop them"  
Kethriel sighed. "We did all we could under the circumstances. Unless Bunnie had better luck, it really comes down to whether Slick is slick enough to hack the SWAT network. If not, we have to do things the hard way. We probably have the forces to combat and defeat the SWATs ourselves, but... if we do things that way, there's going to be losses. Heavy losses." He shook his head. "But if it comes down to that, I don't think there's a single Freedom Fighter who wouldn't be willing to lay down his or her life in the name of freedom. That's really what being a Freedom Fighter is all about"  
"Would you"  
"Huh"  
"Lay down your life"  
Kethriel didn't have to think about it. "Yes," he said, "If it had to come to that. Turning people into robots is no way to fix anything, I don't care who it is. Seeing Bunnie only strengthened my resolve. That's a horror I wouldn't even inflict on the worst kind of criminal. If I had to sacrifice myself to make sure it never happened to anybody again, then its a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I guess I'd be fulfilling my own purpose... I'd like to think I'd be looked after because of that"  
"Do you think there's an afterlife? A god?" Sonic asked.  
Kethriel shrugged. "Why not? There's no purpose without product, right"  
He was cut off by a great grinding, lurching noise that seemed to fill the entire ship, from bow to stern. The sound of machinery warming up and coming to life. The ground was shaking and vibrating beneath their feet. Sonic appeared frightened and looked up at Kethriel in horror.  
"Hey, what the-" Kethriel exclaimed, "The ship is taking off"  
"Is that good or bad?" Sonic asked.  
"Well, I think it has to be good... I mean, we're leaving Zero Seven one way or another, right? Hopefully they're hauling this thing right to Mobitropolis"  
"So what, we just sit and wait"  
Kethriel shrugged again. "I haven't got a better idea. You like flying, kiddo"  
"Not really," Sonic replied, remembering a few days ago when he and Tails Prower had jumped from a moving aeroplane.  
"That's too bad. I hope the in-flight movie is decent."

The Flying Battery, massive as it was, took twenty minutes to power up from its docked position. Forty-five rotor blades on top of the craft provided lift, but they only really worked to keep it in the air once it was in flight. Rocket thrusters around the sides and underneath did most of the launch work, and it was these that needed to warm up before the ship could begin its launch sequence. The Battery was too big to be able to gather speed along a runway, so it had to launch from a standstill, operating on the combined principles of a helicopter and a jumpjet.  
After taking its time to power up, the battleship spewed forth a thick cloud of smoke which it seemed to slowly ride upon as it rose into the air, slow at first, and then with growing speed. Above the towers of Zero Seven, the back thrusters fired, and the Flying Battery gained horizontal momentum, its bow slowly turning in mid-air so that the machine faced the flat line of the southern horizon, where the ocean softly lapped at the fringe of the sky.

It was getting towards late afternoon in Mobitropolis, and there were few times in the recorded history of the city that there had been so much commotion in the palace. It had been decided that celebrations shouldn't be dampered by the new threat of terrorism and that nobody should have to sacrifice the spirit of festivity for fear and anxiety. Even despite saying this, people were less enthusiastic than they would be (which probably counted as a minor victory for the Mobitropolis Workers' Union) but things went ahead as planned and the show did go on.  
'1300' declared a great banner over the palace entrance, 'Thirteen Centuries.  
The traffic inside the palace was more congested than the streets outside, with servants and staff milling about frantically to get everything finished in time. Interior designers, cleaners, caterers, and every other shape of uniform you would expect to see preparing a royal celebration. Many of them were very frustrated, sweating and barking commands at each other as their respective deadlines approached. Three mobians dressed all in white carried a downright massive multi-tiered cake down the main hallway and almost had it knocked to the floor twice. Both times, the expressions of the couriers were the expressions of people who had seen Armageddon approaching and averted it by inches.  
The hallway stretched from the palace entrance right through to the central courtyard, and along its length were framed paintings of every Acorn monarch to sit upon the throne in thirteen hundred years. Cleaners frantically cleaned the frames and dusted the delicate canvasses.  
Two vagrants stood outside the palace gates and tried to get a look in to see what was going on. "Do you reckon they'll give us their leftovers if we ask really nicely?" Rat asked.  
"My friend," Bosley replied, "I think we have about as much chance of that happening as we have of the moon being shot out of orbit"  
"That's what I thought"  
A couple of palace officials ran to them waving a rolled up magazine as though trying to swat a fly. "You there! Getawayfromthere!" he shouted, the stream of words compressed to sound like just one sound, "Geddoutahere! Scat"  
Rat and Bosley groaned and slinked out of sight.  
"Fascists!" Rat yelled back, but the official was already returning to the palace.

Sonic and Kethriel sat together in one of the Flying Battery's many storage facilities, sandwiched between stacks of barrels and drums. Every one carried the Acornex logo. Kethriel had earlier pointed out a revelation that he had made upon seeing those drums. The Freedom Fighters had been having a lot of trouble working out exactly how Martin and Robotnik were going to fuel their superweapon. The Chaos Emeralds would provide the raw energy needed to operate the components, but the machine would assumedly need thrusters and thrusters need fuel to burn. Martin needed to hide a huge amount of this fuel somewhere with no undue suspicion. The answer, Kethriel figured, was mega mack. If Robotnik had invented a form of malcohol-combustion-engine (which was probably well within his ability) then millions of liters of dirt-cheap fuel could be refined simply and efficiently in Station Square without anyone asking any questions. It was just another factor in the extremely complex web of deception that had been woven over the past decade behind the scenes in Mobitropolis. It seemed that no piece of the puzzle had been left unsolved. The ingenuity of the plan would be respectable if it wasn't so spinechilling.  
"I want you to promise me something," Sonic said.  
"Yeah? What's that"  
"Promise first"  
Kethriel laughed. "I never sign anything I haven't read"  
"But if I tell you first, you probably won't do it," Sonic explained.  
"That's highly encouraging"  
"Come on, Keth. Trust me, I'm doing this for your own good"  
Kethriel laughed again. "Okay, okay, I'll bite. I swear I'll do the thing. Now, what did I just promise"  
"That when we get back to Knothole, you'll tell Princess Sally that you love her"  
The other hedgehog's face turned red, and he chuckled embarrassedly. "Sure. I never said when I'd do it, did I? How's two thousand years from now sound"  
"She likes you"  
"So you said before. Personally I kinda consider the future Queen of Mobitropolis a little out of my league. I can't even get a date with the girl who sells me my Sunday newspaper"  
"We're gonna save Mobitropolis!" Sonic said, "That's one heck of a valentine"  
Kethriel smiled but said nothing. They sat in silence for a few moments, but it was Sonic who spoke again.  
"How long have you known her"  
Kethriel considered it. "I think it was thirteen years ago, I was fifteen at the time. I was a very depressed kid, did a lot of things that... well, things I really shouldn't have been doing. And one day I saw her standing in the palace courtyard, just looking at the flowers, and I thought to myself, Keth, that is beauty. That is worth every problem you have with the world. And you know what? I don't think I was ever quite so depressed, ever again. I was a page back then, I polished a lot of soldiers' boots, cleaned their dishes and their toilets, brought them their beer and had it thrown on me if it was the wrong kind of lager, that kind of thing. I was on the way to getting fired, really. After that day, though, everything changed. I changed my attitude, worked hard, and a few years later they made me a squire. After that it was generals and ministers whose boots I was polishing and whose beer I was washing out of my hair. It really was a horrid job and I'm not sure why I stuck with it, but I did. This was around the time that the military started to get replaced by the SWAT-bots. Before too long there wasn't even really any need for people like me anymore because robots don't have boots and they don't use dishes or toilets and they don't drink beer no matter what lager it is. Most of the pages and squires lost their jobs, but I was so good at it that I was promoted to royal servant and charged with assisting the princess. I never told her that she was the reason I was there, though, that seeing her in the garden was what gave me my ambition. We were fast friends, though. She's my best friend in the world, the best I've ever had"  
"I've never had a good friend, really," Sonic admitted, "I only stuck with people to survive. You know, street gangs. We went around stealing wallets and then divvying up the loot. I was a good thief, that's really the only reason people wanted me around"  
"Oh, you'll meet someone one day," Kethriel said, "Everyone does, I think. It's the universe's way of reminding you that everyone matters to someone else. One day you'll see a girl standing in a garden looking at flowers and you'll feel a flutter, and you'll know that you'll never see anything even remotely as beautiful ever again"  
"Yeah yeah, okay," Sonic said, "It wasn't an invitation to get all sappy and have your heart start bleeding all over me. I'm just saying, dude. Tell her"  
Kethriel smiled. "Okay, Dr Love. Whatever you say"  
"Now, I'm getting a little cramped in here. I'm gonna go explore this great big Flying C-cell or whatever it's called"  
"Your head's feeling better, then"  
"Oh... hey, yeah, I guess it is"  
"Be careful"  
"Don't worry, I won't"  
With that, the blue blur had disappeared into the labyrinthine corridors and out of sight.

King Acorn was dressed in the finest dinner suit that could be found anywhere in Westerica. There were more people around him than could be counted on one hand, and all of them were prodding and fixing the monarch's attire while he wore it. Seeming almost oblivious of their presence, the king stared at his reflection in the mirror and practiced his speech.  
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "I want to thank you all for being here tonight. As you know, this is a celebration of thirteen hundred years. Thirteen hundred years since the great Ridgewars, when the crown was passed from the house of Greyblack to the house of Acorn, who have watched over this kingdom ever since, with benevolence and- Richard, what's your impression of the word 'benevolence', do you think it's too... I don't know... vainglorious"  
One of the servants mumbled a response while trying to perfect the king's collar. "I think that the word 'vainglorious' is too vainglorious, sire"  
"I think I'll use 'altruism'," King Acorn replied, "With altruism and pride. But let us not see tonight as a celebration of one family, rather as a celebration of Mobitropolis. For it was only after these great wars merged the peoples of Westerica together under one flag that the glory of"  
Princess Sally walked into the room at this point, cutting him off. "Father"  
"Hello, dear," he said, struggling vainly with his bowtie, "You're not dressed yet, you had best hurry. The guests arrive in three hours, and I know how your stylist Michelle hates to be rushed"  
"Yes, I know, I'm sorry, I'll get to it right away," she replied.  
"Good girl"  
"Father"  
"Mm?" The servant named Richard had taken over with his bowtie.  
"Have you heard from my brother"  
"Not in a while," the king replied, "Martin did assure me that he would be here, and one thing about your brother is that he hates being late for anything. He's probably around somewhere, or will be soon"  
"Okay"  
"Sally, which word do you prefer, 'benevolence' or 'altruism"  
Sally giggled. "You're on your own, Father"  
"Well at least let me know if you prefer the golden cufflinks or the silver"  
"The gold ones are more regal, Father, and they go with your buttons"  
"Ah, my thoughts as well, good girl"  
Sally turned to leave, but the king called her back.  
"Sally"  
She turned. Her father was looking at her with a warm smile. "This is your night, you're going to look beautiful"  
Sally smiled and nodded, and then turned to walk towards her dressing room. A servant barreling down the hallway almost knocked her down, and was so devastated by his transgression that he looked like he might cry (although, after she pardoned him with a smile, he went right on running just as fast as he had been). She passed the guarded entrance to the treasure room, which was open with servants cleaning the glass cases and polishing the floors. As she passed, she noticed something odd, and did a double-take.  
It took a moment before the dread fell like a sack of bricks in her gut. She entered the treasure room for a closer look.  
"Princess," someone said, "Uh, Princess? Majesty, sorry but you shouldn't come in here, the floors"  
"Where are they?" she all but shrieked, "The Crown Jewels! Where are they"  
"I- I don't know," the servant stammered, "Please, Majesty, the floors"  
Sally fled the treasury before he could finish, delayed shock welling up inside her. She ran back to her father's dressing room.  
"Father"  
The king spun around, causing several of the servants dressing him to grunt in frustration.  
"What's wrong, dear"  
"The Crown Jewels are gone!" she exclaimed, "They're gone"  
King Acorn looked amused despite his daughter's clear state of distress. "They were moved this morning. Commander Packbell took them"  
"He can't do that!" Sally almost screamed.  
The king simply laughed. "He can if I tell him he can, dear. I am the king of this nation, I believe. Am I the king, Richard"  
"Yes sire, you are the king," Richard replied, "If you were anything less I'd tell you to dress yourself"  
Sally had already left. She rushed to her quarters, running faster than a princess should probably ever have to run. She passed Michelle, her stylist, who tried to get her attention but was ignored.  
When she reached her quarters, Sally shut and locked the door, and grappled with the telephone on her bedside unit, her private line. There were no assurances that it wasn't bugged, and she made a point never to use the phones in the palace for Freedom Fighter business, but there was no time left. She picked up the receiver, punched a number into the keypad, got it wrong, hung up and tried again. As it dialed, she breathed heavily and curled the cord in her fingers. Eventually she got a response, it was Rotor of the Operations Council. She started talking before he was even finished saying hello.  
"Rotor it's Sally. Listen, Martin has all seven Chaos Emeralds, and he's missing. I think the war is starting tonight, during the celebration. I repeat, Martin has all the emeralds and he's going to act tonight. Spread the word! Hurry! Go!"

When Sonic's mind was distracted from the misery of its reassembly, his sense of adventure throbbed at full force. When, however, he separated himself from Kethriel, he was taken by an all-devouring sense of loneliness that dulled it and made him wonder whether he should just return to the cargo bay among the barrels and drums and sit with the other hedgehog until the Flying Battery landed. It was funny; Until now, he had spent most of his time alone, had preferred it in fact. Now the weight of the world seemed to be on his shoulders and he felt so insignificant, so incapable of mattering in the scheme of things. Kethriel made him feel differently, and it occurred to him that Kethriel was his first real friend. For the first time he felt comfortable in somebody else's company. No, that may have been false, he might have felt similarly about Tails for a few sparkling moments, but Tails hadn't been a very good friend after all, although much of that, Sonic still feared, was probably his own fault.  
Thinking about Tails - his betrayal, ingratitude, Sonic's own part in his downfall - started to depress him and send him along the road to being down on himself all over again, so Sonic decided that exploration probably wasn't the best idea right now (dangerous, anyway) and he should turn back.  
The corridor he had been following, however, had taken him to the entrance to a strange chamber that he caught himself exploring before he could stop himself. At first it appeared similar in design to the Gene Room in Zero Seven, and a shiver of recognition and discomfort rippled down his back, as though he were caught in a recurring nightmare and couldn't escape from this place. Quickly though, he discovered that it was not the Gene Room and in fact didn't look much like it at all. A great chamber enclosed in glass provided a virtually unobstructed view of the surrounding area, it was probably the lowest point on the entire battleship, and Sonic was struck with the realisation that they were flying over the open ocean. This was strange to him because he had thought they were travelling to Mobitropolis, which was east of Zero Seven, but the ocean was to the south. What was stranger, and more unnerving, was the fact that there was very little in the way of land for some distance south of Westerica.  
The room, circular and covered by a wide dome almost like a cathedral, was dominated by a very large glass cylinder with an open door on one side of it and little else marring its smooth surface. The cylinder stretched from the floor all the way to the domed ceiling above, and there was a lot of machinery attached to this ceiling, with what looked like the lens of a flashlight (only much, much bigger) at the top of the cylinder shining down into it. Sonic stood fascinated by this for a few minutes, before noticing a small antechamber off to the side, a room filled with giant computers and switchboards, some kind of master control area. Hundreds of wires and cables streamed from this area to the contraption on the ceiling of the glass tube (a machine which Sonic was sure was much larger than what he could see here, like the tip of an iceberg poking up out of the water). Sonic looked it all over like a deer in a car's headlights, so interested that he almost didn't hear the sound of a deep, throaty cough coming from somewhere behind him.  
He did hear it, though, and just in time he combined speed with reflexes to dart into one of the few shadowy niches that this chamber had to offer - a line of storage lockers of some kind, one of which stood ajar. Sonic squeezed himself into the small locker and pulled the door softly closed just as Dr Robotnik walked into the room.  
Robotnik. A figure towards whom he now directed a healthy dose of loathing. He was also deathly afraid of the cold professor, for Robotnik still held a powerful residue of authority over him. For years, in a room almost similar to this one, he was Master, the bearer of pain, whose will was to be appeased at all costs. Sonic still found himself almost expecting that Robotnik would, any moment, press a button on a remote control and 'correct' him, punish him for this horrible waste of his potential called the Freedom Fighters. He expected Robotnik to shout a command and summon the terrible silver shambling thing that would strip Sonic's flesh from his bones with jagged claws like shards of broken glass, all the while glaring at him with those featureless, unblinking orange spotlight-eyes. But neither of these things happened, he had been lucky enough not to be seen. Robotnik went directly to the consoles in the antechamber, fiddling with switches, clacking away on a keyboard, glancing at monitors and muttering to himself.  
Sonic didn't know how long he was hiding in the locker, but it was anywhere between ten to fifteen minutes before Prince Martin stormed in. What Sonic saw next sent blade-sharp chills and waves of nausea through his body, and burrowed itself into his memory, burned onto his mind like the ghost images that appear if you stare at a bright light for too long. This was the point at which hope turned to dispair, and the true horrible scope of the situation at hand was realised, although possibly all too late to truly have made a difference.  
What Sonic saw was this:

The former Crown Prince Martin had preset his expression to irate before he entered the research chamber where Robotnik was playing with his machines. The prince carried the trusty scowl that he traditionally used to keep his loyalists in line, and although Robotnik had never seemed intimidated by him (a fact that angered him immensely) he found it impacted on his ego much less if he pretended it wasn't so.  
"Robotnik!" he exclaimed, "Where are we going? Why are we travelling south"  
"The ARK space colony is in orbit over the Westerican Ocean," Robotnik muttered without turning around, "It will be easier to reach it if I launch the exoplane from a nearby point of departure"  
The prince appeared momentarily baffled. "Are you losing your mind? We don't have time for this! I have to be taken to Mobitropolis, I'm already late for the royal banquet and I have no desire to be any later! Do you understand? Turn this thing around and take it to Mobitropolis immediately"  
Robotnik sighed, still working the dials and switches on the control panel in front of him.  
Martin turned and at this point seemed to notice the machine in the centre of the room for the first time. His scowl faded and he looked it over with an expression that Sonic was unable to completely discern - was it awe or fear?  
"Is this the machine?" he asked.  
"Yes," Robotnik replied, "This unit is for controlled singular conversions"  
"Does it work"  
The professor turned around for the first time and looked over his machine with all the expression a mother has for her newborn child. "In theory there's no reason it shouldn't"  
The prince stepped inside the glass case and admired it from the inside. He stood on a white platform of iron grating, and underneath it were little piles of what appeared to be metal shavings, shredded as fine as sand. He looked up at the lens above him, like a searchlight pointing uselessly downward.  
"Of course," Robotnik continued, "There's no way to know for sure until it's tested. Your echidna, Knuckles, was going to have the honour of being the first mobian test subject, but I decided his potential was better expended elsewhere." He turned back to his console, flicking switches and programming commands.  
"You haven't tested it?" Martin asked, "That's a problem, Doctor. This operation must begin tomorrow or we will miss a window of opportunity that we will never see again! I do not want to launch a campaign centred upon a weapon that does not work. I want you to make sure that this... thing... is fully tested before tomorrow"  
"As you wish," Robotnik replied.  
Martin was about to exit the glass cylinder when the door slid shut and clicked with a dull mechanical sound.  
He looked shocked for a moment, then sighed through his teeth impatiently. "Your sense of humour is arduous, Doctor. I am not a fan of practical jokes, do not try me"  
There was no response. Robotnik was checking the instruments on his various control panels, and typing commands into a computer.  
"Robotnik?" the prince tried, "I'm not sure why I continually tolerate your disrespect, but I do. Nevertheless, I assure you that you do not want to make me angry. Release me from this contraption immediately, a fellow... a fellow could suffocate in here"  
"I'm about to activate the confinement beam," Robotnik explained, "The light itself is harmless, it both fuels and restrains the nanomachines, just the same as water is to fish"  
Inside the cylinder, mechanised components began to power up audibly. To the prince, Sonic imagined, it must have been a terrifying sound. This was reflected in his expression, which began to cool and harden, less like anger and more like fear.  
"Doctor," he blubbered, "Doctor, this isn't funny, do you understand, I'm becoming very, very upset and you do not want to aggrivate me right n"  
The chamber was suddenly flooded with an eerie green light. Martin's self control snapped like a twig.  
"Robotnik!" he shrieked. He rushed to the glass and began clawing at it like an animal, "Robotnik! Robotnik! Turn it off turn it off please I can't breathe in here I can't breathe! Please! Please for the love- for the love of God turn it off"  
"At this juncture," Robotnik said calmly, as though addressing a conference, "I release the nanoswarm from the dormant storage recepticle into the conversion chamber." A pause, then as an afterthought, "This will hurt a lot, Majesty"  
"No!" Martin, now completely out of his mind with terror, screamed. He hammered on the glass with one hand and clawed at it with the other. He had scratched one of his fingernails off and blood was smearing onto the glass, though he didn't appear to notice. "No please please please you can't do this you can't you can't!" His cries for help ceased to be recognisable as words when the machinery started making a new set of clunking, whirring sounds. Now he was just screaming, beastly shrieks like the cries of a tortured animal. Sonic speculated that they were the cries of someone whose entire world was coming crashing down upon him, whose illusions are completely lifted and who can see their entire life's work being ripped from him in a single act of savage betrayal. He wondered what Martin was thinking about - were all his plans and ideologies stripped away to the barest animal instinct of life preservation, or was he cursing his feeble-mindedness and begging for some kind of redemption? Either way, Sonic (himself in a state of shock) did not at first believe that Robotnik was actually going to kill the prince inside this glass prison any more than he had killed Sonic all those years ago. He assumed that the professor, any moment now, was going to release Martin and laugh at his sick joke, and perhaps even Martin would start laughing and they would walk away clapping each other on the shoulders and start their war in the morning as planned.  
But then the prince's screams changed their tone, and Sonic realised that they had changed from cries of fear to cries of pain. This was when his own mind started to register terror, and what he saw next almost made him physically ill.  
The green light in the chamber bathed Martin in a sickly radiance, and now something that could only really be described as looking like a sandstorm almost obscured him completely. The prince was in instant agony, thrashing and beating at the air. Sonic could tell that the particles (what had Robotnik called them? Nanomachines?) were doing something to him, hurting him. The sight was so grisly that Sonic imagined himself inside that chamber, the air itself burning him and him screaming, trying to fight what was too small to see, inhaling those fragments and feeling them burn from the inside as well. The prince's screams were reduced to muffled, choked wails, and now Sonic could see something growing on him, his arms, his body, spreading like a rash but looking like raw steel. The fragment swarm burned through his clothes and attacked his flesh, plating it in horrific armour that he was frantically trying to rip off of him but which was attached far too solidly.  
At some point the prince stopped making sounds, and soon after that he stopped moving completely. Sonic, caught up in the terror, almost screamed himself and had to bite his tongue to choke it back. He realised, though, that at some point the locker door had swung open and he was completely visible. The prince was looking in his direction, and something like recognition seemed to flash across his face. Sonic wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he was fairly sure that Martin mouthed an incomprehensible plea and reached out for him, reached out for help which was clearly and obviously beyond the realm of possibility for him now. Sonic slipped back into the darkness and the prince's body began to spasm and jerk.  
Then the metal covered his face, and any trace of thought, feeling or life that he had once possessed was completely obliterated.  
Robotnik pressed some buttons and the green light that was emitted from the lens inside the chamber was switched off. Almost instantly, the cloud of nanomachines dissipated and fell like sand to the bottom of the machine, through the holes in the metal grating. The machine made a powering-down whine.  
There was a robot standing inside the glass cylinder, as calm and silent as a potted plant. The door clicked and slid open with a soft buzzing sound, but the robot did not budge.  
"Robot, come," Robotnik commanded. The robot walked out of the machine and approached him, its feet clunking on the ground in a somewhat awkward, unweildy fashion. Dead nanomachines fell off in little streams.  
"Status report," said Robotnik.  
"All systems at full capacity," the robot replied. It sounded like Martin speaking into a metal pipe.  
"Good, good," the professor replied. He walked around the robot, inspecting it as a carpenter inspects a table he has built. "Movements is a little erratic, but that can be tweaked. Otherwise, everything appears fine. Robot, please terminate operations"  
The robot stood silent for a moment, then there was a loud fizzling sound. Something sparked in its head. It jerked twice, then fell over.  
Robotnik showed no more emotion about what he had done than Sonic might feel about tying his shoes. The professor turned and left the room casually, scratching the back of his neck. Sonic looked at the pile of scrap metal that used to be Prince Martin, and threw up.

Kethriel smiled when Sonic returned, not noticing the dead and pale look on the other hedgehog's face.  
"Hey there kiddo, anything worth seeing"  
Sonic looked up with wide, anxious eyes. In a single tone and with utter sincerity he replied, "The prince is dead"  
"Psht," Kethriel snickered, "If only"  
"I'm serious," Sonic replied, "Robotnik killed him... turned him into a robot, I saw it. It was just nothing to him"  
Kethriel's smile faded as he held eye contact with Sonic, trying to figure out if this was a part of some elaborate prank. Sonic's expression told him otherwise, it was too real.  
"Sonic? What do you mean"  
"I mean he's dead, gone, murdered"  
"By Robotnik"  
"Yes"  
"I think you're mistaken," Kethriel insisted, "I mean, I have no doubt that you saw something, but that's one thing that I really can't imagine happening"  
"Why not?" Sonic demanded.  
"Because it doesn't make sense!" Kethriel shrugged and laughed. "Robotnik needs Martin, for the same reason a domestic dog needs an owner. The dog could kill the owner, but it would starve to death. He's a lackey, a tool, that's why he sucks up so much. If he bit the hand that fed him... he'd starve"  
"But what if Robotnik wants to take over Project Mobitropolis?" Sonic asked, "Start the revolution by himself? He controls all the weapons, his hands are on all the buttons"  
"That's what wouldn't make sense," Kethriel insisted, "It doesn't work that way, Robotnik is in this for completely different motives. This is Martin's project through and through, it always has been. Benefit society by transforming the labour force into robots, make them all unquestioning in loyalty and eliminate wasted potential. He's so fixated on becoming king, leading Mobitropolis into a new era of prosperity, going down in the history books as the kingdom's greatest monarch. I'm sure that he still believes that the government will back him, and that's the key. He's royalty. He's an Acorn. But Robotnik... he doesn't care about ruling a kingdom or improving anyone's lives, he'd follow anyone who paid him enough money. He'll only get what he wants if Martin becomes king, otherwise he won't get paid. He's not an aristocrat, he's a s-" He trailed off here and stared into space, thinking, as though a revelation had occurred to him. "Sociopath," he said after a long pause. "That's it... that's the answer"  
"It doesn't matter how much sense it makes," Sonic insisted, "That doesn't change the fact that it happened"  
"You're very sure of this," Kethriel probed, his own expression now almost as glum as Sonic's, "I mean, you're absolutely sure that's what you saw? You can't be mistaken"  
"I'm sure"  
"Completely"  
"Yes! Yes! A hundred and twenty percent. Why is it so important"  
"Because this changes everything," Kethriel replied, "Everything we think we've known since the beginning. If Robotnik- wait, let me think for a minute." He put his hand to his head and closed his eyes, deep in thought. "If Robotnik is in control now, then we can only assume that he has been in control since day one. That means that"  
He was cut off by the sound of loud static and distant distorted voices. Immediately he lifted up a two-way radio to his ear and spoke into it.  
"This is Kethriel, is anyone there, over"  
Sonic heard a fuzzy reply he couldn't discern. It sounded like somebody shouting "Wa-wa-wa" over a jet engine.  
"That's an affirmative, Rockfall. Is this important? I requested that there be no radio contact until I can ensure that the line is safe, over"  
(hissss)Wa-wa-wa-wa-(hissss)  
"Please repeat, reception is very bad, over"  
(hissss)Wa-wa-wa-wa-(hissss)  
Kethriel closed his eyes and fell silent. The look of defeat on his face was total and unmistakable, and it made Sonic very afraid. What news could possibly create that expression on the face of such an optimistic and dedicated leader? One who, up until moments ago, had been almost ready to declare his campaign an almost flawless success? Kethriel was somebody to whom you could look for hope when hope was lost in the hearts of everyone else on Mobius. He was a pillar of inspiration, but at this moment he looked more like a pillar of salt.  
"Rockfall," he said, "You are sure of this? Over"  
(hisssssss)  
"Rockfall, come in, over"  
(hisssssss)  
"Come in. Anyone"  
(hisssssss)  
He put the gadget away, then buried his face in his hands.  
"What is it, Keth?" Sonic asked, pleaded, "What is it? What's going on"  
"It's over," Kethriel replied simply, "It's all over"  
Sonic was freaking out. "What is it, Keth, tell me! Please! What's wrong"  
Kethriel talked slowly, laying the details out for himself as much as for Sonic. "Robotnik doesn't care about Mobitropolis, about kings and queens and classes and people," he explained, "He's playing a different game. He's taken control of the military and he already has the seven Chaos Emeralds. He's pulled the rug right out from under us all, and moved into checkmate without anyone even noticing. I should have seen this before"  
"What's going to happen, Keth?" Sonic asked, "What's he going to do"  
"He's a sociopath," Kethriel said again, "Hates Mobitropolis and everyone in it. That's what this is all about. He's not just going to robotize a few vagrants and labourers, he's going to drop from the sky and robotize everyone. Absolutely everyone. He's not starting a revolution at all, he's starting a war. He's going to destroy it all. And there's nothing we can do about it"  
"Come on Keth, there has to be something!" Sonic insisted, "We can't just give up! We're still here! Remember what you said about purpose? There must be some reason we're still here, some reason we know all of this now. We must be meant to do something, there has to be something that will make a difference"  
"He's all set to go," Kethriel replied, "The only thing anyone could do would be to attack the source... the secret weapon. But everything we know tells us that you can't fight this thing... from the outside." Colour returned to his face suddenly. "Sonic, that's it... you're a genius, kiddo"  
"Don't I know it," Sonic replied.  
"Robotnik's next stop will be ARK," Kethriel explained, "I have to follow him, get inside the Egg and destroy it before it gets to Mobius"  
"You? You mean, we"  
Kethriel smiled and shook his head. "End of the line for you, kiddo. After everything I've put you through, I'm not going to ask you to follow me on a suicide mission"  
"You're not asking me, I'm insisting"  
"I'm not sure you really get the scope of the situation," Kethriel explained, "This probably won't be the kind of mission that the heroes come back from. The weapon has to be destroyed from the inside, in space. There's no taxi waiting to take us back home when we're done"  
"I get that," Sonic replied, "I also get that this is my only real chance to do something meaningful. Robotnik held me in a glass prison and tortured me for years, I know more than anyone what a monster he is. If everyone has a purpose, like you say, then stopping Robotnik is mine. We can't do it without each other, together we have the means and the initiative to end this, and end it tonight. What do you say, Keth"  
Kethriel considered this, and with a noble nod he smiled and shook Sonic's hand, a crisp and honourable gesture. "So be it, Sonic," he said, "So be it. Let's save Mobitropolis."


	13. Death Egg I

PROJECT MOBITROPOLIS  
S Peter Davis 

All characters (C) SEGA, Archie and SP Davis 2004.  
Used without permission

* * *

DEATH EGG - I

The planet Mobius sat in space like a blue and green rock suspended in an ocean of nothing, moving through the blackness like everything around it in the bottomless pit that was the universe. The word mobius itself meant infinity in the old language, and Mobius was a very ancient indeed, the way you think of gods as old. A single moon, grey, lifeless and cratered, turned like a cog around Mobius, gently tugging on its oceans and providing a silver light to its darkened side, just as Mobius turned around its own yellow star in a perpetual motion echoed through the ages, timeless and unwavering. Mobius. Infinity.

What was that, if not the simplest and largest machine of all?

The moon was not the only satellite to circle Mobius, a much younger and more complex object also enjoyed this ageless carousel. The space colony ARK. The largest (and some would say the most terrible) piece of machinery ever built by mobians wasn't built by mobians at all. The circle of creation was another kind of infinity, for ARK was a machine built by machines built by machines, and its sole purpose was to create a lot more machines in time. Looking at the ARK, it was quite possible to lose sight of just what place life had in the world anymore.

A small shuttle left the atmosphere of Mobius with a cloud-trail and entered the blackness of space, that pandemonius state of being where there was no gravity, no breath, no pressure, and concepts like up and down become as fictional as liquid fire. Ivo Robotnik sat in the pilot seat, his eyes following silently as ARK rose like the morning sun in his viewscreen. His devil-red moustache floated in the zero gravity and appeared as though it really were aflame.  
The shuttle was laden with hundreds of barrels and drums, each carrying the Acornex logo. One of the barrels rocked back and forth under its own power while the others remained completely static. Something hammered on the top of the barrel from inside it. After one final powerful thump, the top came off and fell to the ground, and a single brown hedgehog emerged from inside, grunting and groaning at the effort.  
Kethriel picked himself up and dusted himself off. "Sonic," he rasped, "Where are you"  
A muffled voice emerged from another barrel, barely comprehensible. "In here!" it exclaimed, "Quick, I can't breathe in this thing"  
Kethriel found the right barrel and helped to remove the top. Sonic tumbled out of it, breathing heavily.  
"Hey, check this out," Kethriel said. There was a window in the cargo bay that allowed the hedgehogs to see what was outside the shuttle. What appeared before them was an endless black abyss, littered with thousands of white points of light.  
"Is it night time?" Sonic asked, "That was quick"  
"We're in space," Kethriel replied, "It's always night time in space"  
"Whoa, this is space? This is what's outside of Mobius"  
"Yep"  
"It's so... empty"  
Kethriel chuckled. "That's why they call it space. Look, you can see the ARK"  
The space station came into view, a queer sight to Sonic's eyes. Why couldn't this huge contraption just fall down? Then he remembered that this was space, where the usual laws of science didn't seem to apply.  
All at once, the two hedgehogs saw something that stopped them breathing.  
The keystone of the Mother Hen Project was a superweapon, the true name of which was unknown to anyone besides Robotnik and probably the late Prince Martin, but its code name had been the Egg, the hellish mechanical spawn of Project Mobitropolis that had been hidden in orbit for a decade to conceal its horror from the world.  
"The Death Egg," Sonic murmured.  
"What did you say?" Kethriel asked.  
"I had a dream once where that thing was called the Death Egg"  
"It's appropriate"  
Docked within the spiral arms of the ARK space colony was an enormous spherical object like a second moon. Its surface shimmered in the starlight. It was simply a giant metal ball, and on the front of it was the simplified image of a face - two circular eyes (they look just like the lens of the Robotizer, Sonic realised, only much, much bigger) a triangle nose and a broad moustache. Even though it was so simplified, it was easily identifiable as a representation of Robotnik's face.  
"He wants everybody to see his face right before he kills them," Sonic said, choked with horror, "He wants it to be the last thing that anybody sees."

"...This is Lexington Grammar for Mobitropolis Radio One, reporting from Acorn Palace, where the biggest celebration in a hundred years is about to begin. Dignitaries from everywhere across Westerica and the world have arrived in Mobitropolis tonight to partake in a royal jubilation celebrating thirteen hundred glorious years of the Acorn monarchy.  
"The atmosphere tonight is just magical, as you would expect, and this morning's unanticipated terrorist attack on the capital has failed to dampen the spirits of the guests and partygoers as celebrations are held all over the city tonight. Security is extremely tight, as expected, and practically nobody is getting too close to the palace tonight unless they hold a special invitation. Now, they're not letting me get in to see any of the action unfortunately, so we won't be interviewing any of the dignitaries, but information reveals that the high-profile guest list includes Lady Krysta del Terios, Governess of Catilina; Prince Logan and Princess Nerissa of Elhorn; and Duke Redthorne and the illustrious Dutchess Jemima Pierce. In fact, we've even received information that Lord Vlanmire Cartouche, Greatsire of the Arack Empire, will be partaking in a very rare mingling between the two kingdoms. Will tonight's celebrations possibly even serve to soothe the cold war between Arack and Mobitropolis? Only time will tell..."

The concept of space continued to dazzle Sonic with his limited perception of reality. Many times he had stared upward and wondered just how far you could travel, but he had never imagined reaching a point where the air would thin to nothing and the ground would simply give up trying to pull you back to it. The hedgehogs had left the cargo area and immediately escaped the artificial gravity, losing their grip on the ground and floating aimlessly like bubbles. Kethriel burst out laughing, but Sonic went into a panic attack.  
"Keth! Something's got me! Something's got me"  
"Nothing's got you!" Kethriel replied, in hysterics, "There's no gravity in space"  
"No gravity? What do you mean, no gravity? Gravity is everywhere! That's like saying there's no air"  
"There's no air in space either, Sonic"  
"What?" Sonic held his breath, hands shooting up to his neck, cheeks puffed out, legs kicking at the air like he was trying to tread water. Kethriel laughed so hard that he almost seemed like he might cry. Sonic started trying to swim back to the cargo area, where the world made sense, but despite his best efforts he only wound up floating backward.  
"There's air in here!" Kethriel said between breaths, "You're fine, kiddo, relax! Just don't try going outside"  
"Yeah, what happens outside?" Sonic demanded, a look of horror still painted across his face.  
"Your blood will boil," Kethriel replied matter-of-factly, "And the air pressure will make your lungs explode"  
"Can we go back to Zero Seven now?" Sonic asked, "It was much safer there"  
The shuttle slowly approached the huge and silent doomsday weapon that floated imposingly over Mobitropolis as though it might fall at any moment and crush the life out of everything. The ARK space colony was as dark and foreboding as its purpose. Staring into the gaping maw of this black machine, Sonic was suddenly overwhelmed by bafflement. Why would anybody on Mobius go to such an immense amount of effort in the name of evil? It was a frightening thought. Few would consider evil to be a motive, in and of itself. Evil was a symptom, not a cause. What mobian was fueled by hatred so intensely as to dedicate their entire life to the extermination of others? A surprising progression of logic brought a consideration to the forefront of Sonic's mind, a thought so simple and yet so immense in scope that its implications were unimaginable.  
"Keth? What is Robotnik"  
Kethriel looked at Sonic questioningly and muttered "Hm"  
"Well," Sonic replied, "He's not a mobian, is he"  
Kethriel considered it for a moment. "Robotnik is... Robotnik. Nobody ever really questions it. To be honest, it feels like it's better not knowing the answer to that question"  
"What if he's the Devil?" Sonic asked, "What if he's come out of... you know... What if he can't be stopped"  
"Those who really know Robotnik," Kethriel replied, "I mean, nobody really does, but those who know him best... they say that he's an artist. He thinks of science as his art. I think I agree he's some kind of artist, except I don't think his art is science at all. Science might be his medium, but his art is death. He's been practicing for years, and now he's decided it's time to paint his masterpiece."

King Acorn had been the ruler of the city and kingdom of Mobitropolis for many decades, but he had never looked more regal. And despite it all, he still carried out the humble tradition of greeting each of his guests in person.  
When each of the official guests (three hundred and twenty-seven in all) had been seated, the king retreated from the action.  
"Where is Martin?" he hissed.  
Sally looked over the seated guests with a growing dread. The seat reserved for her brother remained empty. She knew where Martin was, all right. He was getting ready to bring a war down on top of Mobitropolis. Despite the great feast awaiting her, she wasn't the least bit hungry, and in fact her stomach was almost ready to evacuate its contents at the mere smell of roast meat and gourmet delicacies.  
Her mind screamed at her that she should have told him about Martin's insurrection from the very beginning. Her proficiency with tactics commanded her to handle the situation as quietly and delicately as possible, but now she feared that it had been like attacking a runaway train with a water pistol. Martin wasn't going to do this quietly or delicately. He was going to take Mobitropolis kicking and screaming.  
"Please, Kethriel," she prayed, as though trying to evoke a deity to intervene in this chaos, "Please, Sonic Hedgehog. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing... stop this from happening."

A patrol of worker bots had already been waiting when the shuttle docked at the ARK. A long reinforced tunnel like a steel straw extended from the colony and attached itself to the cargo bay. With a loud hiss of decompression, the doors opened and the robots came out. Ever willing to help and never sluggish about their job, the small black forklift-shaped bots promptly began to load up with barrels and drums from the shuttle and take them back into the depths of the isolated colony. Moving as they did in two continuous rows, Sonic couldn't help thinking that they looked like worker ants, marching back and forth from the nest and stocking up for the winter.  
Sonic and Kethriel slipped past the robots and entered the space station. It was a lonely, dead looking place, as dark as a hive and as quiet as the depths of space beyond its walls. The robots were apparently held down by magnets, because the hedgehogs floated above them through the ARK's corridors. Sonic grabbed the top of one of the bots and let it pull him along, finding no other way to propel himself in the zero gravity environment. "My stomach feels really funny, Keth," he said, "I think I'm going to.. erk"  
"Try to keep it in, Sonic, I don't want to have to navigate through a belt of vomit asteroids"  
The cargo route led directly into the Death Egg, and after floating for a while, the hedgehogs slowly gained weight until their feet were back on the ground. It felt different to being on Mobius, like a synthetic force that only imitated gravity (which was probably exactly what it was) but it sufficed. They entered the craft by way of some kind of massive fuelling station. The robots carried the drums of malcohol to a series of mechanical arms, which picked them up, opened them and poured their contents into giant tubes. There were hundreds of these apparatus in all. The tubes led away into the dark depths of the Death Egg's mighty engine.  
"Look there," Kethriel said, and pointed. In the darkness, barely illuminated, was a raised metal platform obviously for mobian use. "It's sound construction policy to provide a technician's access route behind the scenes, in case anything should go wrong that a robot might not be able to fix," he said, "That should be the easiest way to get around the Egg. Let's move."

Ivo Robotnik gazed at his reflection in the Eye of Mobitropolis. The blue emerald glowed with a fearsome energy that even he, with his uncanny intellect, could not entirely grasp.  
He held the gem in his hand, and looked beyond it to its six brothers. Each was encased inside a glass prism, floating in a vaguely greenish liquid. Even so, their individual hues radiated distinctly. The red - Martin's favourite stone, like a vial of blood lit from the inside, was first. Then the mouve, the gem that Sonic had fought over in the mountains of Kirandul and which had subsequently lost for him the others when Tails had rebelled and taken them. Next was the cerulean and the green, the first and the last to be excavated, respectfully. Then there was the orange emerald, and finally the grey, slightly larger than the others and possibly slightly brighter, although that may have been an illusion due to its lack of colouration. The echidnas who buried the emeralds thousands of years prior had referred to the grey as the controller, the unifier of the Seven Chaos, and they had left it above the ground in the forgotten Temple of the Lagoon, protected it fiercely until they had been driven from Mobius by way of whatever force had overcome them.  
The next prism capsule was empty, and Robotnik carefully placed inside it the blue emerald he had pried from the king's own crown, the crown that had been created before the written record. How the prehistoric founders of this city had come across a Chaos Emerald, nobody may ever know. The capsule closed around the emerald and with a hissing sound it filled with the greenish fluid.  
"Tonight, Mobitropolis will celebrate its own immortality," Robotnik said, "And tomorrow night, I will celebrate its destruction"  
The scientist turned to a massive console on his left, thousands of buttons and switches laid out before him, and monitors lined across the wall like modern art. Silver, his pet, shambled up to him and stared blankly at the computer panels without any semblance of understanding.  
Robotnik typed a series of commands into the system and then hesitated, his finger hovering just above a single button.  
"I've waited for this moment my entire life," he said, "Viva Robotropolis"  
He hit the button. Machinery began to power up and lights flickered on.

initialising sequence... all systems powering up... preparing to route power from emerald battery to central engine facility

In Mobitropolis, the moonlight beamed down upon a vagrant rat who was busy rooting through a dumpster for buried treasure. He pulled out a soiled nappy and pulled a disgusted face, but paused for a moment, considering the possibilities. Deciding finally that there were none (or at least none worth considering) he tossed it back in and started digging again. Then he grabbed a hold of something else, a very over-ripe banana, and smiled. He gathered the rest of his haul. A stale hamburger bun, a pickle and an old jar of mayonnaise that had turned in the heat. He put the banana in the bun with the pickle, scooped out a handful of rancid mayonnaise and spread it on his sandwich with the flat of his palm. "Fit for a king," he said, "Bet they're not serving anything this good at the fancy schmancy royal feast"  
Rat took a bite of his tasty sandwich and waltzed through the dark, brisk alley as though he really was a king. He saw a shape at one end, silhouetted against the street, and at first he thought that it was a person, but soon realised that it was a SWAT-bot. The robot stood as motionless as a metal statue in the empty night, staring in his direction.  
"Buzz off, bolt-brain, I'm trying to eat," Rat said.  
The SWAT did not move. It stood its ground, and when Rat tried to get past it, the robot shoved him backward into the alley with one solid push.  
"Hey!" he shouted. The sandwich flew out of his hand and he fell onto his backside. "What was that? You got a short circuit or something, buddy"  
"Stay where you are, citizen," the SWAT-bot droned, "Do not attempt to leave the city or you may be restrained with lethal force"  
"Lethal force?" Rat shrieked, "Oh man, you really are busted, ain't you! Since when has it been a crime to go rooting through other people's garbage? I gotta eat somehow"  
The robot stood as silent as a monolith. As Rat glared at the SWAT-bot, he also saw past it to the main street. Hundreds of robots, thousands, marched together in rows along the bitumen, the massive regiment illuminated by street lights on either side. People looked on fearfully from their windows and from the curb, but few dared to move. The terrible implication was clear: The SWAT-bots no longer served the people of Mobitropolis.

red chamber engaged - power 100  
mouve chamber engaged - power 100

The media, gathered near the entrance to the palace, continued their newscast.  
"...and rumours suggest that a dialogue may open tonight that will enable a much wider avenue for trade between Mobitropolis and the rest of the world. Although tonight's celebrations are not geared towards political motives, there is indeed a chance that... sorry, what?... uh... okay, I'm receiving a news flash at this time... it seems that there are reports of strange SWAT-bot activity within the city? I can't be sure about the details at this time but... I'm being told that SWAT-bots are gathering together at various places in the city, um... moving in large numbers, displaying... hostile intentions? Is this accurate, Brad? I'm getting conflicting reports, here, worrying reports, I can't quite... Oh my gosh, look over there... Folks, there is definitely something of grave concern happening here at the palace tonight, I am seeing it with my own eyes, what appears to be a large... a battalion of SWAT-bots have gathered together and are marching... oh my gosh, there's another one... several regiments are marching along the main streets of Mobitropolis, hundreds of robots, I'm being told that reports are coming in from all over the city with the same story. SWAT-bots are telling people to stay indoors and not to move from where they are. I wish I could report the reasons for this, but at this point we have received no official word... the robots are driving people away from the palace, now, they are surrounding partigoers and moving people along with what appears to be some degree of force, there is a lot of confusion here, folks... Holy smokes, I've never seen so many SWATs before... some of these people are very afraid, there is panic in the air, and... Oh my gosh... Oh my gosh... Did I just hear shots fired? I think... Folks, I don't want to report inaccurately but at this time it appears that the SWAT-bots are firing at civilians. There is a huge amount of panic, now, I'm sure you can hear the screams from this end, the SWATs are... ... ... ... Folks, the SWAT-bots have just instructed my team and I to return to our homes, they are informing us... informing us that we are not to leave the city, we have been threatened with... Brad, did it just say lethal force? I can't... Folks, I think we are going to have to end this transmission, we... Oh my gosh... their weapons are armed, I repeat, the SWAT-bots are aiming their weapons at us and instructing us to move along..."

cerulean chamber engaged - power 100  
green chamber engaged - power 100

"My honoured guests," King Acorn said, "Might I present my beautiful daughter, my darling Princess Sally Acorn." Everybody clapped, but he the loudest, as Sally entered the dining hall. Her dress was a thing of stunning beauty, as white as the clouds in dreams. It was a patterned off-the-shoulder and half-backless gown draped in lace as thin and whispy as the morning mist, so expertly tailored that it only barely touched the floor, never dragging. She gave an uneasy smile, though at any other time and in any other circumstances she would have been flattered by such a welcome, so much so that she would probably have been unable to keep from giggling. Right now, there was so much weight on her mind that she was having trouble standing.  
The king whispered the word "Martin?" amidst the applause, and she shook her head. She sat to the right of her father, and he looked at the empty chair to his left reserved for his son. Next to Martin's chair sat Commander Packbell in a dinner suit, and the Commander shook his head and shrugged.  
There had been two glossy black SWAT-bots standing either side of the main entrance to the dining hall. Sally noticed to her puzzlement that there were now four. She turned to look at her father, but as she did, she saw that Packbell had been staring at her. The Commander looked away quickly, but not in time to stop a shiver darting down her spine.  
"I can't wait for Martin any longer," the king said, "Let's eat."

orange chamber engaged - power 100  
grey chamber engaged - power 100

With a series of smoky, soundless explosions in the vacuum of space, the supports that held the Egg to the ARK broke away, and the craft began to drift on its own. The expressionless motif of Robotnik's face turned toward Mobius, and anybody on the ground who had a sufficiently powerful telescope would probably have been able to see what appeared to be another silvery moon - a moon that gazed back at him with humourless contempt. Thrusters on the rear of the craft started up, releasing periodic bursts of pressurised gases, and the Death Egg began to descend toward the planet.

error! blue chamber failure - power 0

Robotnik glared at the report with a sudden pang of fury. "Blast it," he growled, and turned to look at the emerald chambers. A small red light was blinking in a steady pattern under the prism holding the blue Chaos Emerald.  
"Hardware failure... nothing ever works the way it should in theory. Why?" He typed another command into the terminal and it brought up a status report. There was enough energy in the other six emeralds to launch the ship and hold it aloft, but the seventh would have to be accessed if it was to operate at full potential. Robotnik ordered the ship to drop from orbit and the engines to power up. No more time was to be wasted - The Egg would launch on schedule. There would be enough time, he figured, to work the bugs out of the faulty transformer before it reached its destination.  
As he was about to get to work on the problem, another alert blinked up before him.  
intrusion detected - engine sector breeched - unauthorised life forms present "What now?" He brought up a visual image on the monitors. A familiar blue hedgehog and his companion were walking along the service access route in the engine sector, unmindful of the camera watching their movements.  
"Sonic!" Robotnik raged, "Here! Curse him! Bah, so much for the echidna, I should have put him through the machine after all. What is it they say about getting a job done right, hey Silver? Time to take matters into our own hands, I think."

The Death Egg was more than a fortress. Sonic figured that the entire population of Mobitropolis could live comfortably inside this craft if they were properly equipped to do so. It was like a city in space - a ghost city, without even a single living soul to fill its vast chambers.  
"Keth, why is this thing so big?" Sonic asked.  
Kethriel shrugged. "Since Robotnik is striking tonight, I think it's probably safe to say that he has more than Mobitropolis on his mind. The king is holding a feast right about now in the royal palace, and some of the most powerful diplomats on this side of the world have been gathered together. Tactically, taking Mobitropolis tonight is a brilliant strategy"  
"A strategy towards what?" Sonic asked, "World domination"  
"Why not? He could build up an army fairly quickly, hundreds of war machines, thousands, fill this thing to the top with enough firepower to blow up the world, and just leapfrog to the next major city, and the next, and the next. Every time he wins, it'll be easier to do it again. With the anti-technology legislations in place, nobody stands a chance against this thing. You're not going to bring it down with a trebuchet, that's for sure"  
"You sound awfully cool about it," Sonic said flatly.  
"That's because it's not gonna happen," Kethriel replied, "We're stopping this, remember? Right now. We're cracking this rotten egg"  
It was then that the ground seemed to shake and vibrate, and Sonic was afraid that the thin structure they were walking on was going to break apart and throw them into the oily depths of the Egg's mechanical yolk. The loud, booming sound of moving parts operating and gearing up echoed through the empty corridors. Kethriel calmed Sonic down and instructed him to keep moving.  
"It's starting up," he said, "We're dropping from the ARK. I don't know how long we have before we get within attack range of Mobitropolis"  
"Where are we going?" Sonic asked.  
"We have to find the Chaos Emeralds," Kethriel replied, "If only we can find where he's keeping them, I know how to stop them. I have a feeling that we'll find them wherever Robotnik is. That's okay, I'd like to have a few words with the Eggman as well, if you know what I mean"  
"Eggman," Sonic said, "That's funny"  
Soon enough they discovered why the sounds seemed to be so close, for the engineer's access tunnel opened up and emerged from the side of a huge chasm. The hedgehogs stopped to look over the edge, without going too far. Below them was something that was obviously some kind of massive engine. Several tubes arranged in a circular pattern, each one capped with a rapidly spinning fan as wide as a house. Sonic could see a lot of machinery operating under those fans, pumping cylinders and spinning cogs.  
"Wow," Kethriel said, awed, "What I wouldn't give for a hundred tonnes of TNT right about now"  
The updraft from those engines was quite substantial, and the bridge they had to cross went straight over it. Sonic was afraid that they might be blown right off the flimsy thing and end up as hedgehog pudding.  
"Go ahead," Kethriel said.  
"Uhh, age before beauty," Sonic replied. The bridge was wide but the rails were low, and the other end looked it was getting further away right before his eyes.  
Kethriel stepped out and the draft caught his spines, blowing them upward. Sonic looked up to see where the air was being sent, but could see only darkness above. He stepped onto the bridge and let the wind catch his spines and tickle him.  
"It's funny," he said, "A week ago, I didn't know who you were. Seven days later, we're risking our lives together, crossing a deadly chasm on a flimsy bridge inside the biggest weapon ever built." He wanted to talk about something, anything, so that he didn't have to think too hard about where he was.  
"It's strange the way things turn out, isn't it?" Kethriel replied, "You never know where the next day is going to take you"  
They were halfway across the bridge, and although Sonic was trying to keep to the centre of the path he couldn't help taking another look over the edge. The fans were moving so fast now that they looked like ghosts.  
"Hey Keth, l-" he began, but something fell from above and cut him off. It landed on the bridge a few feet behind him with a very loud clanging sound. Sonic, shocked, turned around and saw the Shambler rising to its feet, orange eyes glowing like embers.

Terror had frozen Sonic to the spot, and for that crucial moment he was a child again, drained of the ability to move. There was a demon staring at him, a ghost from his childhood, a hideous jagged silver parody of a hedgehog with bulky, powerful arms and jagged shards embedded in its back that looked like they could slice through flesh as easily as through fog.  
"I'm sorry!" Sonic wanted to scream, but his throat was clogged up. "I'm sorry I was bad!" He wanted to beg for his life.  
"It's only a machine, Sonic!" he heard Kethriel exclaim, but he sounded so far away, "It's nothing but cogs and wires and springs"  
But it was so much more. Robotnik had finally made good on his promise and sent the Shambler to destroy him, to rip him into thin blue shreds.  
For a moment the robot with the featureless orange spotlight-eyes seemed to stare at him (or through him) with all the animosity of a sharp silver teddy bear, its head cocked slightly and its arms by its sides. But then with a very slow, fluid movement it raised its hands a little, and six-inch blades emerged from its fingers.  
"I have-" Sonic choked.  
"Sonic, listen to me," Kethriel snapped, "You're faster and stronger than that thing. It won't hurt you unless you let it"  
"I- I have"  
The Death Egg's massive engines whirred and roared beneath them, and now the blades on the Shambler's back were moving in rows like three chainsaws and making a fierce churning sound. The prototype assassin that Robotnik had named Silver began to approach him, its claw-blades raised and ready to slice him in two, and all that Sonic could see was a silver ghost with red and blue snakes slithering around it in deadly harmony.  
"I have no right to life!" he screamed at it, his muscles finally depetrifying. "Leave me alone! I exist only to develop my potential! Go away"  
The snakes hissed, and Silver buzzed with mechanical fury. Its orange eyes seemed bright enough to see right into Sonic's soul. His feet rooted to the spot, his entire body trembling, he saw himself inside a glass cage with a treadmill under his feet and wires attached to his head, and he knew that running would do him no good because the treadmill could go just as fast as he could and he was trapped, trapped with this jagged silver nightmare rushing toward him.  
"Where are you?" Kethriel demanded from some other world, thousands of miles away, "Come back, Sonic! Come back to now! Snap out of it and come back"  
And the Shambler wasn't shambling anymore, it was rocketing toward him, great plumes of black smoke trailing behind him in flames, blades spinning too fast to be seen, claws swiping at the air. Sonic's mind lost its powerful grip on the illusion of the past for but a moment, and he was suddenly jerked back into reality. He wasn't in the Gene Room, he was in the Death Egg. The Shambler wasn't an unstoppable demon out of his nightmares, it was an idiot robot named Silver with a brain like a pocket calculator. With a shriek, Sonic ducked out of the way just as it was close enough to impale him, and he went rolling away and almost dropped off the edge into the roaring engine below, catching himself just in time and digging his heels into the metal grating of the bridge. He pulled himself to his feet. Blood dripped onto the grating, and he saw that his shoulder had been gashed by Silver's bladed claws. A fraction of a second later and he might have lost his entire arm.  
But the Shambler wasn't finished. It had turned a wide arc in midair and was coming toward him again, only this time it had curled itself into a ball, blades spinning like an out-of-control buzzsaw, and Sonic realised that this was the first version of a power that he himself possessed, his ability to spin-dash. This had been built into him like he was a kind of robot as well. He ducked away again and Silver rolled past in a rush of wind. By the time Sonic stood up again, he was back in the Gene Room, surrounded by glass and machines. His body locked up again.  
Robotnik had materialised out of nowhere and was shaking his head sadly. "You refuse to learn," he said, "I will teach you." He pressed a button on his panel, and Sonic realised that the cuff was back on his wrist. It shocked him fiercely and he was thrown to the ground, jerking and spasming with electric charge.  
(but it's all in your mind)  
No! It was real and he was being deservedly punished for his transgressions. Why would he defy his master and fight? What did he have to live for? He had no right to life! Didn't he understand that by now? After all this time, why couldn't he just learn to submit?  
(there's nothing there)  
Robotnik faded, nothing but smoke and mirrors inside Sonic's troubled mind, and he stood to face the Shambler for its next assault. Silver stood and turned, its emotionless eyes betraying nothing but calm. It looked at him again, calculating its next move.  
Sonic wanted to cry. He wasn't ready for this, he was only a kid, and the Shambler was death's puppet. For years it had bided its time, waited with impeccable patience and watched him through that glass, waited for the day when it would be asked to kill him. That day had come, and it would never tire, would never rest and would never slow until its mission was complete. It advanced on him again, and his feet fused to the spot again.  
Images of the past slithered through his mind like snakes (like red and blue snakes) and he bit his lip hard enough to make it bleed. He saw Robotnik glaring through those thick spectacles, saw the streets of Mobitropolis littered with cigarette butts, saw snakes hissing and writhing, saw Rat dividing up the day's plunder, saw Tails crying and wailing in his conflicted misery, saw Slick running from SWAT-bots in a tattered trenchcoat, saw Kethriel and Sally laughing together with more than just friendship on their minds, saw the Death Egg dropping from the heavens and hatching the end of the world.  
Silver, blades screaming, rockets bellowing, burst from it all with its razor claws slicing through the air, mad for blood. Sonic stared hypnotised into those orange spotlight-eyes and knew that he was going to die and there was nothing he could do about it.  
But just as the robot was almost close enough for Sonic to smell its oily metal hull, to feel the air displaced by those flailing claws, something else collided with the Shambler from one side and it was ripped from its course, rockets spluttering and blades whining. Kethriel. The hedgehog and the hedgehog parody went tumbling together over the side of the bridge.  
All at once, there was silence but for the roaring of the Death Egg's engines below.  
Sonic was still held to the spot for a while, his mind clearing away all the chaos that had clouded it.  
"Kethriel?" he called, a tremor in his voice.  
There was no reply.  
"Oh... oh no..." He suddenly felt very alone and vulnerable, but his mind still seemed to refuse to believe what had just happened. Was Kethriel-  
"Over here, Sonic"  
Keth! Thank heavens! Sonic rushed to where the other hedgehog had fallen, and saw Kethriel's hands gripping the metal grating, knuckles turning white. His head was just visible over the side of the bridge.  
"How's it hanging, Keth?" Sonic smiled with relief.  
"Just fine, kiddo, just peachy," Kethriel replied, and laughed. The laugh had an uneasy quality to it.  
"You sure taught that ugly brute a thing or two," Sonic said, "Let me help you back up"  
"No, Sonic." Kethriel's smile had faded, and his face was contorted in what looked to be a great deal of pain. He was gritting his teeth and snorting.  
"What do you mean? Here, give me your hand"  
"I've got a- bit of a- problem here, kiddo"  
Sonic approached him and looked over the edge. Kethriel was holding himself to the bridge with a great deal of effort, his body below his neck hanging over the side in mid-air, one leg kicking at nothingness. And... what else? Sonic leaned over further to see.  
Kethriel's right shin was little more than pulp, and grasping his leg with mindless determination was the Shambler. Its claws dug into Kethriel's flesh like hooks. It stared upwards with those emotionless eyes, and released him with its lower claw, brought it up and grasped a higher point, drawing more blood and an agonized grunt from the hedgehog. Sonic realised with a huge amount of horror that the robot was climbing Kethriel like a rope.  
"Kick it off!" Sonic shouted.  
"I can't, Sonic, listen"  
"Kick it off, it's climbing"  
"Listen to me"  
Sonic listened, looked into Kethriel's eyes and saw the torture must have been immense.  
"Take care of Amy," Kethriel said.  
"Huh? What do you mean?" Sonic didn't understand.  
"My sister, take care of her. She doesn't have anybody. Okay? Tell her I love her"  
"Kethriel, you can tell her yourself"  
"No. I can't, Sonic"  
Horrible understanding developed in Sonic's mind. "Hey... whoa, Keth, hey, no"  
"Listen to me. The emeralds. Find the emeralds"  
Silver brought another claw up and gripped Kethriel's knee. He howled in agony as it splintered.  
"The emeralds," Sonic repeated.  
"Find them, Sonic. Find them and- open the bag, Sonic, open the bag and use it"  
Sonic's gaze fell to the bag that was still around his neck, the bag he had taken everywhere with him ever since he left Knothole. He still had no idea what it was.  
"What's in it?" he asked.  
"Use it when you- when you find the emeralds," Kethriel said, "Listen Sonic- You're the best thing that's ever happened to the Freedom Fighters, I know it. Sally knows it. You- you're going to win this for us"  
"Keth, what if I can't"  
"You will- you will"  
Silver brought another claw up and sank it into Kethriel's thigh.  
Sonic's face hardened. "Yes," he said, "I promise, Keth. I'm going to rip this accursed machine to pieces"  
"Good kid," Kethriel said, and he forced a smile. Despite his pain, the expression was clearly genuine. "We're all wanderers in the desert, Sonic," he said, "But you have shown me the way." With that, he let go of the grating with one hand and held it up for Sonic, and Sonic thought that he'd had a change of heart and was asking for help after all. But when Sonic took the hand in both of his, Kethriel just gave him a solid handshake. "Thanks, kid"  
With so much weight under him, Kethriel couldn't hold himself aloft with just one hand. He slipped off the edge of the bridge with a whimper, and the last that Sonic saw of him was the hand that he still shook right up until it broke away from his and disappeared.  
In the short silence that followed, he didn't even think that his heart was beating.  
It might have been anywhere between a few seconds and eternity, but at some point the roaring of the engines below was interrupted by a powerful and deafening explosion. Kethriel's end probably didn't make much of an impact, but his passenger's body would have been devestating as it was pulled through the delicate machinery. The entire Death Egg seemed to lurch and rock as flames from the damaged engines licked the bridge beneath Sonic's feet.  
Kethriel hadn't even allowed himself to die without it being some kind of blow against Robotnik's machinations.  
Sonic cried.

(you have to run)  
The mural of the DNA strand that Sonic's young mind had perceived to be two coiled snakes bared down on him from above, seemed to hiss at him and confirm his fate. "You've been a bad, bad, bad kid," the snakes hissed, "And now you're going to go to the Big Treadmill in the Sky." The infant hedgehog trembled in his bed, pretended to sleep. The door was open... the door to his prison. That rarely happened. The Master was outside, he who could make Sonic's bracelet electrify him, he who gave the commands and made the rules and administered the punishments. What had he done now? The look on the Master's face was grave, and he held a large needle in his hand.  
(you have to run)  
But Sonic couldn't move, his body was frozen, he might as well have really been asleep. He wasn't sure exactly what it was that convinced him that he was about to die, or why. Perhaps his purpose had finally been exhausted - he existed only to develop his potential, maybe it had been developed as far as it could go. He knew that if it was his time to die, then he should close his eyes and take it. There was nothing for him in this world, he had no right to life, none at all.  
And yet, something within him wanted to... wanted to.  
(to run)  
The door was open, and the Master stepped through, holding that needle, his eyes impossible to read inside their deep craters and behind those spectacles. His hook nose flared, his mouth pulled up in a scowl. Sonic couldn't help his trembling, his muscles tensed up so much that they hurt, his mind screamed at him.  
(you have to run, run, run)  
And something happened. The voice in his mind achieved some kind of victory over reason, and before he knew what he was doing, he was on his feet doing what he did best. Only this time, there was no treadmill. This time, he was going somewhere. The Master's face contorted into a gasp of surprise as Sonic ran past him and out the door. He was running like the wind. The Master was chasing him, screaming his name, and the Shambler was after him too, now, and it would tear him apart if it caught him. Sonic was crying as he ran, he didn't want to disobey but he was just so scared, so frightened, he wanted to live, live, live.  
But Sonic wasn't a child at all, and although he was running and crying, he wasn't running through the dark corridors of Zero Seven, but the steel recesses of the Death Egg. It had been ten years since his escape from the Gene Room, ten years without a memory and without a life, and now he was back where he started - in the hall of the Robot King, naked, frightened and utterly, miserably alone.  
(but there is a difference this time - your life has a purpose)  
Twice, he felt an explosion rock the Death Egg, and as he ran he momentarily lost weight and floated a few feet, as though the disturbance was disrupting the false gravity that flowed through the craft. Both times he fell back down and continued running, missing not a beat.  
"What can I possibly do?" he screamed into the darkness, "I'm still a kid! All I know how to do is run and steal"  
He slowed to a stop, panting. How long had he been running? And how far? Fleeing from his grief, his torment and his guilt.  
"Pull yourself together," he hissed, and he gave himself a brisk slap in the face. "You weak, useless hedgehog, you hesitated back there and you got Kethriel killed. He gave his life so you could win this thing, don't you dare fall apart now"  
His hand fell upon the silk bag, tied up with a drawstring and hanging around his neck. At that moment he almost grabbed it and opened it, but stopped short. Kethriel had known that they might be in this situation, had known all along. Always one to plan ahead. Whatever was inside that bag, it could be used with the Chaos Emeralds - some kind of device designed to destroy them or stop their power somehow. It was the final resort, the one thing that could stand between Robotnik and the end of the world. He had to get this bag to the emeralds. He wasn't even permitted to die trying.  
Sonic took a step back and looked around. The corridor opened up into some kind of multi-layered chamber with a balcony of sorts, and a winding staircase leading to the platforms below. He stepped up to the railing of the balcony and squinted into the dark of the abyss.  
The chamber was very deep and very vast. Sonic figured that he had entered some kind of storage facility or warehouse of sorts, for there were many boxes and crates stacked atop each other, some the size of shipping containers or bigger. He couldn't see the opposite wall, but there was another balcony a few metres from him, the platform to which it attached leading back into the shadow of the unknown. Sonic began to wonder whether he should descend the stairs or jump across to the next balcony, and as he considered this, the darkness began to recede. Were his eyes adjusting, or was there more light? He started to get the uncomfortable notion that space wasn't quite so adept at cloaking them in its black shroud - they were returning to Mobius.  
"Sonic"  
In the new light, Sonic saw a figure standing at the next balcony. A large figure, tall and robust, with a round head and an impossibly broad moustache.  
"Hello, Master," Sonic replied, but he spat the last word as though it were a bitter seed in his mouth.  
"You do remember, after all," Robotnik replied.  
"You killed Kethriel"  
"No, you killed Kethriel," the scientist sneered, "You should have seen yourself, Sonic, standing there like you were made of wood. Very disappointing. I taught you better than that, I think. Not a very enthusiastic display of potential"  
"You killed Prince Martin"  
Robotnik faltered. "Well... yes, I'll give you that one"  
"Why?" Sonic shrieked, "Why are you doing all of this? Do you think that you're God, is that it"  
Robotnik snickered, and it was the closest thing to a smile that Sonic had ever seen on his face. "Don't be stupid, Sonic, don't patronise me. I've had people try to compartmentalise me all my life, but it's always the same nursery school psychology garbage, all of it. I don't have any delusions of grandeur, although I do suspect that, if God does exist, He and I do have a few things in common"  
"Then why? Why would you do all of this"  
"It's simple, Sonic." Robotnik leaned into the light so that Sonic could see his round, unsightly face hidden behind those glasses and that explosion of red facial hair like flames, and for a moment he really could have been the Devil. "Why do I do it? Because I can"  
"I'm going to stop you," Sonic said, "You disgusting monster, I'm going to stop you, do you understand me? You're going to rue the day that you breathed life into Sonic the Hedgehog"  
"I think not," Robotnik replied, "You are an enduring one, I'll give you that. You're more like a cockroach than a hedgehog, I've sent everything in the world after you and you still manage to scurry away. You could probably survive a nuclear winter if you had to. But even the biggest, fastest cockroach on Mobius is powerless to really do anything worthwhile. All you can do is watch: in an hour or so, every living soul in Mobitropolis is going to be a walking pile of scrap, a stringless puppet for my entertainment, and you cannot stop it from happening. Sonic, at this point I don't even think I could stop it from happening"  
"You're the cockroach," Sonic spat, "You vile thing. You plague"  
"Who knows, Sonic, you may be right." Robotnik began to back into the darkness, the shadow shrouding him, making him disappear. "You may be right. You may be right"  
"Oh no you don't, you don't get away that easy." Sonic began to descend the spiralling staircase to get to the bottom. He could see now that there were more than crates stored in this place. It was some kind of armoury. There were robots lined up by the hundreds, none of them operational. As Kethriel had predicted, Robotnik was building an army. With every city he took, he would instantly draft thousands of new troops with his terrible Robotizer. How long would it really take for the Death Egg to give Robotnik the world? A year? Less?  
A very loud sound broke his train of thought, and he stopped dead, staring into the darkness. Silence. What had that been, another explosion? He hadn't lost gravity, and it hadn't sounded quite like an explosion at all, more like a thud, like something very big falling deliberately.  
Boom! There it was again. The sharp, loud blow of metal on metal. Closer this time. It rattled the railing that Sonic had been touching.  
Slowly he continued down the stairs, all the while transfixed on that gaping abyss before him. There was another loud thud, and another, closer and closer, and now he saw something coming out of that darkness. Something very, very big. Each footfall like the gait of a titan. Gradually, dreadfully, the colossus came into view.

King Acorn stood before his guests, whose conversations dropped to silence as they paid due civility to their host. The feast had been consumed, and everybody in the room was satisfied. The king turned his head with regal poise, and at this point it was dismally clear just how old the monarch had become. The squirrel king, his fur and hair thinning and greying, was an emaciated figure betwixt the relative youth of the guests in his court. The radiant, divine beauty of the princess to his right, and the prince... still not present. The monarch's gaze lingered on the empty chair to the left of him just for a moment, but a great sadness seemed to fall over him.  
Still, he retained his composure and looked over the faces in the great dining hall. Over three hundred were present. Kings and queens, lords and ladies, dukes and dutchesses, and political figures. Even an Arack lord, his four hands clasped, sat politely at this table tonight, attention fixed upon him.  
The king took a deep breath, and smiled. His warmth radiated over the congregation, and everybody present was sobered by it, calmed and contented.  
"Ladies and gentlemen," he began, "I want to thank you all for being here tonight."

Sonic stared up at the most monsterous robot he had ever set his eyes upon, Silver notwithstanding. It stood perhaps fifty feet tall, perhaps sixty, a massive tank of a thing on two legs, each thicker than the trunk of the mightiest oak on Mobius. For some reason, Sonic found it particularly horrid that this thing was apparently made to look like Robotnik, although the doctor had been quite generous in reproducing his bodily appearance. It was a muscular hulk of a machine, painted red and wearing a thick metal armour of sorts that Sonic doubted any gun ever invented could puncture. Its head was little more than a swivelling dome with lens-eyes and a painted-on moustache. Its arms were claws, and attached to each forearm was a massive cylindrical machinegun turret.  
Robotnik's voice boomed through a loudspeaker that Sonic couldn't see, and a daunting fact suddenly occurred to him, that the doctor was actually speaking from inside this behemoth.  
"Sonic, I would like to introduce you to the Doomsday Mech. I decided I should award myself some kind of protection in the unlikely event that my plans were compromised. I'd like to submit you to one final test, if I may. Let's see how far your potential has really expanded over these years"  
The Doomsday Mech pointed its turrets towards Sonic and opened fire in a storm of bullets.

"As you know," the king said, "This is a celebration of thirteen hundred years. Thirteen hundred years since the great Ridgewars, when the crown was passed from the house of Greyblack to the house of Acorn, who have watched over this kingdom ever since, with altruism and pride. But let us not see tonight as a celebration of one family, rather as a celebration of Mobitropolis."

The gunfire licked at his heels as Sonic sprinted as hard as he was able, but there was precious little room to move in this place, and he had already run so much. He had used all of his energy reserves quickly in his panic, and now was running purely on adrenaline alone. He was slowing down. The blue blur was slowing down. And as he ran in circles he couldn't help wondering how long he had to play this game, how long before the citizens of Mobitropolis looked up into the sky and saw a second silvery moon rising in the east, this one emblazoned with Robotnik's horrid motif, laughing at them.  
Sonic saw an opening, a corridor, and blazed into the darkness of its unknown, the only thing on his mind the image of Kethriel, screaming at him to keep running, just keep running. He heard Robotnik's Doomsday Mech thundering after him, guns blazing.

"For it was only after these great wars merged the peoples of Westerica together under one flag that the glory of Mobitropolis truly began. Only then could this city truly enter its golden age, and it is not the house of Acorn that is responsible for this glory, but the people. We must never forget the people."

Sonic's lungs burned. He was tiring, and there was no destination in sight. The ghastly machine was gaining on him, the gunfire hitting home closer and closer, he could feel some of the bullets ricochet close to him and ping off the metal construct of this devilish warcraft. There were blisters on his heels inside the red sneakers that a small fox had stolen for him once. And suddenly he was back in the land of his dreams. He was small himself, as young as that fox had been, and there were ghosts chasing him. They howled and shrieked their horrible cries, and Sonic was oh so tired, but he knew that he could never be caught. He had to run, he had to live, because he did have a right to life and there was more to his life than being some beastly professor's basement science project. He was the blue blur, he was the blue thunder, he was Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am an old king. My youth is but a distant memory to me. My end is in sight, and I fear I am not too long for this world. I have seen many things in my lifetime, I lived through the ravages of the Android Wars and I saw this great city rebuilt again to its former glory. I have seen through a great many changes in my time and I have propogated the first seeds of true democracy in my court. But I will not be around to see the fruits of my labours. I will be succeeded by another, and my successor will carry on the work that I have begun. It is my intention tonight that I name this successor, the heir to my throne."

The ghosts were near, now. He could feel their rancid breath on the back of his neck. Ghosts from his past and ghosts from his present. Snakes slithered and hissed and opened their poison maws to devour him whole, but he kept running. He ran but he did not fear. He ran to survive, and this time he did not cry as he ran, but he laughed.

"My son, Martin Acorn, is a strong and intelligent young man. I took great pride in his raising, as did his late mother. Since he was a lad of no more than five he has taken a solid and unwavering interest in the history and the inner workings of Mobitropolis. He loves this city more than anyone I have ever known, and he is truly the jewel of his father's crown. I love him very dearly and I wish he could be present tonight to hear me say so. He would make a fine monarch and a finer gentleman. For these reasons I am conflicted, however set in my decision, to announce that my daughter Sally will inherit the crown after my passing."

Sonic came to a dead end and turned. Where to go? Walls on all sides of him, the Egg was a maze from which there seemed no escape. And storming out of the darkness came the horrific Doomsday Mech, guns raised and locked on.  
"I do wish you could stay and watch the party, Sonic," Robotnik's voice boomed, "But I do have quite a lot of work yet to do. I hope you understand. You've lived much longer than you were ever supposed to. It's time to terminate you like the pointless experiment you are."

There was no longer silence in the court, as shocked voices chattered away enthusiastically. King Acorn gave it a moment and then raised his hands for quiet so he could continue.  
"In my darling daughter's eyes I can see the soul of Mobitropolis. I see the beauty of its cobbled streets, its blue waters and cerulean skies, its green grass and the cheerful laughter of its children. That is what Mobitropolis is - soul. It is the soul of the people that beats within her, and this city that I love, that we all love, will grow ever more beautiful with my stunning young queen on its throne. It is in the shadow of this beauty that Mobitropolis will live on for another thirteen hundred years."

But Sonic could see a glittering light between the legs of Robotnik's mech, in fact it was seven points of light, each with a different colour of its own. He saw these lights shining brilliantly and without hesitation he went for them, just as Robotnik roared at him and opened fire.  
(run sonic keep running don't you ever stop)

"When I look at Sally, I see the future of Mobitropolis. I see it in her eyes that whatever happens..."

Sonic ran right between the mech's legs, nearly toppling it as it followed him with its guns amidst Robotnik's cry of fury.  
(run sonic run run run run)

"...that whatever the future may bring..."

(run towards the light)

"...that Mobitropolis..."

(run sonic never stop)

"...will always..."

(just)

"...live on."

(run.)

"...are we on air?  
"This is Lexington Grammar for Mobitropolis Radio One. It appears that the situation we reported earlier has not interfered with our ability to broadcast, but we cannot make any assumptions as to if and when that might change. We will try to report the facts as we are aware of them.  
"A few hours ago we and hundreds of others witnessed a kind of martial uprising in Mobitropolis. At around eight o'clock this evening, reports began to circulate that the city's SWAT-bot militia was assembling to enact some kind of citywide curfew. As far as we can tell at this time, no citizens have been permitted to leave Mobitropolis since the incident began.  
"We are unable to confirm whether this action was initiated by the government, or whether it constitutes some kind of unlawful rebellion. Already a number of frightened citizens are making reference to the great Android Wars of sixty years ago, when militaries governed by artificial intelligence began to usurp their creators all over Mobius, and waged a war against each other with little mobian involvement.  
"So far, we have received no official word from the government. Before the SWAT-bots assumed control of the city, Radio One was covering the centennial celebrations at the palace, but no communication has been established between the government or the monarchy since the confusion started, and the state of the king's health and safety cannot be reported with any accuracy.  
"My producer is informing me of new eventualities as reports come in. I'm being informed that a number of independent sources are reporting sightings of what is being referred to as... I hope this is accurate... as an unidentified flying object. Apparently the large, spherical object was seen to light up like a meterorite upon entering Mobius' atmosphere, but was and is moving far too slowly to be of natural origin. The accuracy of these reports and the nature of their connection with the SWAT curfew has yet to be ascertained.  
"We have confirmation that the robot military continues to prohibit the free assembly of citizens in Mobitropolis. There are unconfirmed reports that a group of mobians have attempted to fight past a blockade of SWAT militia at the city limits and, tragically, the robots have opened fire to prevent the passage of citizens beyond the Mobitropolis city line.  
"We can only advise at this time that nobody attempt to initiate conflict with the SWAT-bots until the motives behind this situation can be reported and confirmed. Until then, please, stay in your homes. Remain calm and keep your radios tuned to this station. We will continue this broadcast for as long as possible. This is Lexington Grammar for Mobitropolis Radio One, keeping you informed..."

Sonic the Hedgehog stood alone in the Death Egg's central control station, and wished desperately for Kethriel's guidance.  
Buttons and dials in their hundreds were lit up all over the chamber, and only Robotnik knew what they all did. If there was a way to make the villainous contraption self-destruct, to turn away from Mobitropolis and crash or render itself benign, Sonic didn't have the vaguest idea how to command it. And there wasn't enough time to take the trial-and-error approach. He could hear the monsterous sound of the Doomsday Mech close behind him, trying to rip its way through the Death Egg's innards to get to him. He probably had no more than a few minutes or less before it succeeded, and he was cornered in this room.  
It occurred to him that, one way or another, this was the end of the line for him. He was about to give his life for a cause, a concept that he would have found ridiculous only a week earlier. But Sonic had grown to sympathise with the Freedom Fighters and their quest. So much so that he now found himself sharing every bit of the passion that had led to the movement's original fruition. He finally understood why this needed to be done. Robotnik's snarling face burned itself in his mind, he associated it with every moment of pain in his entire life, and he knew. The wayward Science Minister of Mobitropolis had to be stopped, at all costs.  
He turned his attention to the dozens of monitors on display, each of them presenting a different set of information, most of which was gibberish to him. The largest monitor, however, showed a huge video image of the view outside, like the window in a plane's cockpit. Sonic could see an expanse of blackness, the night-time landscape of Westerica far below. In the centre was a galaxy of light, thousands of little points of glittering silver, and Sonic knew instinctively that they were the lights of Mobitropolis. The view of the city was growing steadily larger as they approached it.  
There was a loud crash and a mechanical whine as Robotnik's mech made its way closer to him. He could smell the oily stench of its gunsmoke.  
Sonic turned to the right and saw some kind of massive machine built into the wall of the control chamber. At its base were seven cylindrical columns, at the top of each a kind of glass prism full of greenish liquid, and each prism held a Chaos Emerald. Under the blue emerald was a blinking red light that seemed to indicate some kind of error, but the whole machine was humming with energy. There was something strange about that blue emerald, Sonic thought. The other six were glowing with almost the radiance of an electric bulb, but the Eye of Mobitropolis was dim and dull, even for a Chaos Emerald. Even then, he began to suspect, began to understand.  
Another loud ripping noise and the sound of straining machinery. Sonic feared that if he turned around he would be able to see the barrel of the Doomsday Mech's weapon, and so he remained focused on the emeralds. With a brisk motion, he grabbed the silk drawstring bag around his neck and snapped it off. There was something strange happening with the bag, as well. It seemed almost to be throbbing, pulsing with energy. Sonic's heartbeat seemed to double, just being in the viscinity. The bag's contents were warm in his hand. It almost seemed to want to leap out of his grasp, but he held it tight. Carefully he slipped his fingers into the tight aperture at the top of the bag and pulled it open for the first time.  
Robotnik inched closer, ripping a hole in the entrance to the control room big enough to fit the Doomsday Mech through. The soft whining of the mech's limbs as they moved was audible now through the clamour of its actions.  
At first, Sonic didn't quite understand what he was seeing. The bright glow in his hand, like blue fire. The emeralds were rattling in their cases, now, as the hedgehog struggled for comprehension. But yes, it did make sense, and he laughed, though it almost sounded like the laugh of a lunatic. Kethriel had not been anybody's fool. On the contrary, it appeared that he had outsmarted absolutely everyone.  
The emeralds were in turmoil. Each one glowed like the core of the sun and crashed around inside its prison. The object in Sonic's hand filled his body with warmth, saturated him with it. The blue glow was almost too bright to observe... the real Eye of Mobitropolis, in all its awesome power. The counterfeit emerald in the machine exchanged its fake blue glow for a red-hot one. There was a blinking red light under all seven chambers, now, and several urgent-looking messages appearing on Robotnik's monitors.  
Sonic didn't know what he was supposed to do, but it happened anyway, like some kind of natural instinct. With an effort that felt more like a release, he let the Chaos energy surge through his body. It flowed into him like light into a black hole - and then kicked back. The fake emerald exploded inside the machine with a shattering blast, glassy blue fragments and green liquid raining down upon everything. Sonic could hear explosions within the emerald machine as overloaded circuits blew apart and machinery incinerated. One by one, the prisms burst with a shower of liquid and the Chaos Emeralds flew towards him, around him, like planets in a system, like electrons in an atom, chaos and harmony at the same time. Sonic saw that his body wasn't blue anymore, it was aflame like the sun, and it didn't feel so good anymore. He was the conduit, he was the burning apogee of the combined energies of the Chaos Emeralds, and it was more than he could handle. Thoughts raced through his mind faster than he could interpret them. He drew his body together with a pained whimper, contracted all of his muscles, drew the energy tightly into his very centre... then with a scream, splayed his limbs and blew it out again. A wave of energy filled the chamber, and all of the monitors exploded in a shower of glass and sparks. His body brightened like a flare and the emeralds' energy flowed like a circuit into the Death Egg's control board, through its engines, and back into him. More explosions could be heard deep within the craft's diabolical viscera.  
Robotnik roared within his battle mech, and opened fire on the incandescent entity that had formerly been a hedgehog. A raging hoard of bullets that should have torn Sonic's body apart deflected off his glowing chassis with little effect. Sonic turned around, his face contorted into a map of insanity. His eyes flared, but the image they sent to his brain was lost among a million other images racing through his mind. He was losing his grip on reality... good God, he was losing his mind. His body burned from within... the emeralds were going to rip him to shreds, but not before they destroyed his sanity.  
With a scream, Sonic reared up and ran, but the emeralds were fuelling his speed as though his legs were rockets. He ran through the tide of bullets, leaped up and full-body-slammed the Doomsday Mech right in the centre of its hull. The mech tipped over backward, guns still firing, bullets ripping an arc in the Death Egg's framework. Sonic didn't look back, he left it all behind him as he surged forward. The emeralds were following behind him like the trail of a comet, as though magnetised to him, but they could not keep up with him. He was the blue blur. He was the fastest thing alive.  
In his growing insanity and increasing alarm, Sonic never really knew at what point he left the Death Egg, or how. He supposed that he had run so fast that he burst right through its shell and kept going. But at some stage he simply lost control of the energy flowing through him, lost whatever focus he had over it, and it had dispersed from him like smoke in the wind. His stressed mind pulled itself together enough to regain control of his senses, and he found himself literally running through the air.  
Sonic, his familiar blue spines blowing in the wind, was very high up. For a while his body retained enough kinetic energy that for a while he was weightless. His legs and arms were still pumping, and he was still running. Even the end of the road could not stop him running. It may have been the thin air making him euphoric, or it may have been the sheer bliss associated with the concept that he had beat the Devil and come out of it running on air like a superhero, but Sonic began to laugh. He laughed until he nearly burst.  
After not too long a time, Sonic finally began to fall. He felt gravity take hold of his body and tilt him downward so that he could see the vast ocean. Dawn was breaking, and he could see the sun's orange glow reflecting off the water, creeping over the curved liquid horizon in the east. There was something else below him... an island, although it wasn't quite right. Perhaps his sanity hadn't returned entirely, because what he saw was a mass of land complete with deep vegetation and tall, snowy mountain peaks, the entire thing flying above the water like a cloud. Illusion or not, in the light of dawn it was so beautiful that he could have wept.  
Seven tiny points of light came into view below, and Sonic knew that they were the Chaos Emeralds. No longer enslaved to his body, the emeralds fell to Mobius. Sonic had enough time to realise that they were going to land on the island (and that he wasn't) before a combination of a lack of oxygen and sheer exhaustion began to black out his consciousness. He closed his eyes, smiled, and let it happen. This was what it was like to be free, he thought. This is what it felt like to be a creature of purpose. And Sonic, his purpose fulfilled, contentedly fell to his doom.

But that wasn't to be.

Dead hedgehogs don't dream, and in Sonic's dreams he was still running. Not out of necessity, however, or out of fear, but because running was what he did. He loved to feel the wind in his spines, feel it rushing through his splayed fingers.  
There were ghosts in his dream, too, but they weren't chasing him. They came up beside him and began to speak, but he ignored their chattering. He cared not about these shapeless spectres, he was basking in his freedom.  
"I think he's waking up, I do," said one ghost to the other.  
The other ghost's reply was drowned out by the roar of the engines.  
Sonic groaned and opened his eyes. The wind was still rushing through his spines, but he wasn't running. The light blinded him and he couldn't make out the blurs around him, and the only thing he could hear was that roaring, chopping engine. The hedgehog sensed somebody behind him, and he turned to face them, squinting for focus. The blurs coalesced into the image of a stork, beak pulled back in a wide grin, eyes hidden behind goggles that were attached to a leather cap.  
"Hi hi hi there!" the stork exclaimed over the wind.  
"Flightless Joe..." Sonic croaked. "Hey... whoa, hey, where am I"  
Joe pointed ahead, and Sonic turned around. He and Joe were squeezed together in the passenger seat of a small red biplane, Joe's treasured Tornado, and Sonic almost laughed when he saw who was in the cockpit. A young orange fox, almost too short to see over the dashboard, two tails flapping in the wind. Tails Prower, also in a leather flying cap, turned around and grinned at him.  
"Heya, Tails," Sonic said dumbly, exhausted and bemused.  
"In all my years of flying," Joe said, "I ain't never seen a pilot catch a falling hedgehog in mid-flight. I've seen a lot of things, yes I have, some things you wouldn't even believe, but I ain't never seen that. But now I have, now I have"  
"Couldn't just let him fall to his death, could I?" Tails shouted, his voice almost too soft to be heard over the engine, "Now we're square"  
"Why did you come back?" Sonic asked, "I was horrible to you"  
"You chose me, Sonic," Tails replied, "Remember the cliff? The emeralds? I did some thinking and decided on what was important. It's a good thing I came, too, got here just in time"  
"The Death Egg," Sonic said, his memory rushing back, "What happened to the Death Egg"  
"That big metal thing?" Joe asked, "I tell ya, I've seen and collected just about every aircraft that's ever flown, yes I have, but I never seen a bird as big - or as ugly - as that one. Looked like the moon came down for a visit, it did." He thought for a moment. "Wouldn't mind it in my collection, though"  
"But what happened to it?" Sonic demanded, "Did it crash"  
Joe simply pointed, and Sonic followed his gaze. The Tornado was headed inland, and they were just crossing the coastline. Off on the horizon was the machine city of Zero Seven, and a huge dome sat in the water offshore.  
"Oh no," Sonic groaned, "He's docked it, I hoped it would crash." Sudden panic flooded his face. "Did he take it to Mobitropolis? Did he attack"  
"Kid, nobody took that thing nowhere," Joe replied, "It flew like a dying seagull. Just about when it spat you out like it didn't care for the taste of you, it started spluttering about and came down in a corkscrew. Seems a miracle that it managed to gain control enough to splash down at the dock"  
"Have to stop that thing," Sonic grunted, "Robotnik's relentless, he'll relaunch if he can. Have to destroy it"  
"Not right now, you ain't," Joe said, "You need a rest and some food, and the girl here needs a refuel. That thing's not going anywhere today, even if it does ever fly again, which I doubt. Homeward bound, Tails"  
"Aye aye!" Tails called back, and the Tornado banked and flew towards the mountains. Sonic yawned and began to doze again, but before his eyes closed he saw that floating land mass again, hovering far out to sea. It was real after all, and he supposed that stranger things had happened. But for now he put his head down and slept.

END OF ACT ONE


End file.
